COLOR  NOTATION 


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n^oston  College  Library 

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(ponatea 
in  memory  of 

George  F. 
Trennolm 

1886-1958 
!A(^YS.'%JinjreA  Voyle-' 


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PLATE  I 


A   BALANCED    COLOR   SPHERE 


PA  STEL     SKETCH 


A    COLOR    NOTATION 


BY 

A.  H.  MUNSELL 

AN   ILLUSTRATED  SYSTEM  DEFINING  ALL  COLORS  AND 

THEIR  RELATIONS  BY  MEASURED 

SCALES  OF 

Hue^  ^dlue,  and  Chroma 

MADE  IN   SOLID  PAINT  FOR  THE  ACCOMPANYING 

Color  oAtlas 


INTRODUCTION  BY  H.  E.  CLIFFORD 


Fifth  Edition.    Revised  and  Enlarged. 


MUNSELL     COLOR     COMPANY 
NEW     YORK 

1919 


Copyright,  1905,  1913 

BY 
A.    H.    MUNSELL 


A II  rights  reserved 


Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall 


QC 


BOSTON  COLLEGE  LIB^Y 
•^«ccTM\n   1-ilLU  MA». 


CHESTNUT 


PRESS  OF  GEO.  H.  ELUIS  CO.,  BOSTON 


328001 


PREFACE  TO  FIRST  EDITION. 


At  various  times  during  the  past  ten  years,  the  gist  of  these 
pages  has  been  given  in  the  form  of  lectures  to  students  of  the 
Normal  Art  School,  the  Art  Teachers'  Association,  and  the 
Twentieth  Century  Club.  In  October  of  last  year  it  was  pre- 
sented before  the  Society  of  Arts  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology  at  the  suggestion  of  Professor  Charles  R.  Cross. 

Grateful  acknowledgment  is  due  to  many  whose  helpful  criti- 
cism has  aided  in  its  development,  notably  Mr.  Benjamin  Ives 
Oilman,  Secretary  of  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Professor  Harry 
E.  Clifford,  of  the  Institute,  and  Mr.  Myron  T.  Pritchard,  master 
of  the  Everett  School,  Boston. 

A.   H.  M. 
Chestnut  Hill,  Mass.,  1905. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  THIRD   EDITION. 


An  Atlas  of  Pigment  Color,  long  delayed  by  the  diflSculty  of 
exact  reproduction,  accompanies  this  edition.  Its  measured 
scales  of  hue,  value,  and  chroma,  tested  by  appropriate  instru- 
ments such  as  a  daylight  photometer,  spectroscope,  and  Max^s-ell 
discs,  serve  to  collect  many  individual  records  and  establish  a 
norm,  or  average,  of  color  discrimination.     These  charts,  thi'ee  of 


4  PREFACE  TO  THE  THIRD  EDITION 

which  are  simphfied  in  a  new  folded  plate  (V.),  may  do  much  to 
dispel  the  mental  fog  and  personal  bias  that  so  hamper  color 
education. 

Brewster's  mistaken  theory  of  color  was  rejected  half  a  cen- 
tury ago,  but  it  still  lingers  in  the  school-room,  giving  children 
a  false  start  with  Froebel  balls  and  a  three-color  box.  This  leads 
to  crude  excesses  with  red,  yellow,  and  blue,  which  ignore  the 
teaching  of  both  Art  and  Nature,  and  contradict  the  verdict  of 
the  eye,  whose  sensitive  balance  is  the  test  of  color  beauty.  Ef- 
forts at  picture-making,  with  all  the  compHcations  of  linear  and 
aerial  perspective,  call  for  aptitudes  rarely  found  in  pupil  or 
teacher  and  of  little  use  in  daily  life,  but  a  fine  color  sense  of  great 
educational  value  may  be  trained  by  decorative  studies  whose 
simple  color  relations  permit  the  student  to  reaUze  in  what  way 
and  by  how  much  he  falls  short  of  a  definite  standard. 

Plates  II.  and  III.  reproduce  children's  studies  with  measured 
intervals  of  color-Ught  and  color-strength,  which  so  discipline 
their  feeling  for  color  balance  that  they  may  then  be  trusted  to 
use  even  the  strongest  pigments  with  discretion. 

A  new  full-page  plate  of  the  Color  Tree,  with  descriptive  text, 
will  be  found  in  the  appendix  to  Chapter  II.  It  is  also  a  pleas- 
ure to  acknowledge  the  aid  of  many  experienced  teachers,  es- 
pecially Miss  Mary  L.  Patrick,  of  Wellesley,  Miss  Margaret  E. 
Hill,  of  Winchester,  Miss  Florence  E.  Locke,  and  Miss  Alice 
Frye,  of  Somerville,  who  have  helped  in  the  preparation  of  a 
simple  introduction  to  this  system,  separately  published  under 
the  title  ''Color  Balance  Illustrated." 

A.  H.  M. 

Chestnut  Hill,  Mass.,  1913. 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  lack  of  definiteness  which  is  at  present  so  general  in  color 
nomenclature,  is  due  in  large  measure  to  the  failure  to  appreciate 
the  fundamental  characteristics  on  which  color  differences  depend. 
For  the  physicist,  the  expression  of  the  wave  length  of  any  partic- 
ular light  is  in  most  cases  sufficient,  but  in  the  great  majority  of 
instances  where  colors  are  referred  to,  something  more  than  this 
and  something  easier  of  realization  is  essential. 

The  attempt  to  express  color  relations  by  using  merely  two 
dimensions,  or  two  definite  characteristics,  can  never  lead  to  a 
successful  system.  For  this  reason  alone  the  system  proposed 
by  Mr.  Munsell,  with  its  three  dimensions  of  hue,  value,  and 
chroma,  is  a  decided  step  in  advance  over  any  previous  propo- 
sition. By  means  of  these  three  dimensions  it  is  possible  to  com- 
pletely express  any  particular  color,  and  to  differentiate  it  from 
colors  ordinarily  classed  as  of  the  same  general  character. 

The  expression  of  the  essential  characteristics  of  a  color  is,  how- 
ever, not  all  that  is  necessary.  There  must  be  some  accurate 
and  not  too  complicated  system  for  duplicating  these  characteris- 
tics, one  which  shall  not  alter  with  time  or  place,  and  which  shall 
be  susceptible  of  easy  and  accurate  redetermination.  From  the 
teaching  standpoint  also  a  logical  and  sequential  development  is 
absolutely  essential.  This  Mr.  Munsell  seems  to  have  most  suc- 
cessfully accomplished. 


6  mTRODUCTION 

In  the  determination  of  his  relationships  he  has  made  use  of 
distinctly  scientific  methods,  and  there  seems  no  reason  why  his 
suggestions  should  not  lead  to  an  exact  and  definite  system 
of  color  essentials.  The  Munsell  photometer,  which  is  briefly 
referred  to,  is  an  instrument  of  wide  range,  high  precision,  and 
great  sensitiveness,  and  permits  the  valuations  which  are  necessary 
in  his  system  to  be  accurately  made.  WejLHjppreciateJhe  neces- 
sity for  sorne  improvement  in  our  ideas  of  color,  and  the  natural 
inference  is  that  the  training  should  be  begun  in  early  youth. 
The  present  system  in  its  modified  form  possesses  elements  of 
simplicity  and  attractiveness  which  should  appeal  to  children,  and 
^ive  them  almost  unconsciously  a  power  of  discrimination  which 
-^would  prove  of  immense  value  in  later  life.  The  possibilities  in 
this  system  are  very  great,  and  it  has  been  a  privilege  to  be 
allowed  during  the  past  few  years  to  keep  in  touch  with  its 
development.  I  cannot  but  feel  that  we  have  here  not  only  a 
rational  color  nomenclature,  but  also  a  system  of  scientific  impor- 
tance and  of  practical  value. 

H.  E.  Clifford. 

Gordon  McKay  Professor  of  Electrical  Engineering, 
Harvard  University. 


CONTENTS. 

Introduction  by  Professor   Clifford. 

Part  I. 

Chapter  Paragraph 

I.    COLOR   NAMES:   red,  yellow,  green,  blue,  purple   .   .       1 

Appendix  I. —  Misnomers  for  Color. 

II.    COLOR  QUALITIES:  hue,  value,  chroma 20 

Appendix  II. — Scales  of  Hue,  Value,  and  Chroma. 

III.  COLOR  MIXTURE:   a  tri-dimensional  balance    ....     54 

Appendix  III. — False  Color  Balance. 

IV.  PRISMATIC  COLORS 87 

Appendix  IV. — Children's  Color  Studies. 

V.    THE  PIGMENT  COLOR  SPHERE:  true  color  balance,   102 
Appendix  V. — Schemes  based  on  Brewster's  Theory. 

VL    COLOR  NOTATION:  A  WRITTEN  COLOR  SYSTEM 132 

VII.    COLOR  HARMONY:  a  measured  relation 146 

Part  II. 

A  COLOR  SYSTEM  AND   COURSE   OF   STUDY  BASED 
ON   THE   COLOR   SOLID   AND   ITS   CHARTS. 

Arranged  for  nine  years  of  school  Hfe. 

GLOSSARY   OF    COLOR    TERMS. 

Taken  from  the  Century  Dictionary, 

INDEX 
(by  paragraphs). 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Page 
Color  Plate  I.    A  balanced  color  sphere Frontispiece 

Color  Tree  enclosing  the  color  sphere,  with  vertical  and  horizontal 
sections  corresponding  to  the  charts  of  the  Atlas  reproduced  in 
color  plate  V 32 

Drawings  of  a  daylight  photometer  (Munsell) 40 

Color  Plate  II.     Children's  studies  in  measured  color,  using  special 

crayons  of  the  five  middle  colors  with  black  and  gray 64 

Color  Plate  III.    Exercises  in  design  and  flat  representation  of 

objects,  using  water-color  paints 64 

Color  Plate  V.  Scales  of  light,  middle,  and  dark  color,  bearing  a  nota- 
tion which  defines  their  hue,  value  and  chroma,  reproduced  from 
the  charts  of  the  Color  Atlas Folder  at  end  of  book 


Chapter  I. 
COLOR  NAMES. 

Writing  from  Samoa  on  Oct.  8, 1892,  to  Sidney  Colvin  in  London, 
Stevenson  *  says:  "Perhaps  in  the  same  way  it  might  amuse  you 
to  send  us  any  pattern  of  wall  paper  that  might  strike  you  as 
cheap,  pretty  and  suitable  for  a  room  in  a  hot  and  extremely 
bright  climate.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  our  cUmate 
can  be  extremely  dark  too.  Our  sitting  room  is  to  be  in  var- 
nished wood.  The  room  I  have  particularly  in  mind  is  a  sort 
of  bed  and  sitting  room,  pretty  large,  lit  on  three  sides,  and  the 
colour  in  favour  of  its  proprietor  at  present  is  a  topazy  yellow. 
But  then  with  what  colour  to  relieve  it?  For  a  little  work-room 
of  my  own  at  the  back,  I  should  rather  like  to  see  some  patterns 
of  unglossy — well,  I'll  be  hanged  if  I  can  describe  this  red — it's  not 
Turkish  and  it's  not  Roman  and  it's  not  Indian,  but  it  seems  to 
partake  of  the  two  last,  and  yet  it  can't  be  either  of  them  because 
it  ought  to  be  able  to  go  with  vermihon.  Ah,  what  a  tangled 
web  we  weave — anyway,  with  what  brains  you  have  left  choose 
me  and  send  me  some — many — patterns  of  this  exact  shade." 

(1)  Where  could  be  found  a  more  delightful  cry  for  some  rational 
way  to  describe  color .f*  He  wants  "a  topazy  yellow"  and  a  red 
that  is  not  Turkish  nor  Roman  nor  Indian,  but  that  **  seems  to 
partake  of  the  two  last,  and  yet  it  can't  be  either  of  them."  As 
a  cap  to  the  climax  comes  his  demand  for  *' patterns  of  this  exact 
shade."     Thus  one  of  the  clearest  and  most  forceful  writers   of 

*  Page  194  "  Vailima  Letters,"  New  York,  Soribner's,  1901. 


10  NAMES 

Eno-lish  finds  himself  unable  to  describe  the  color  he  wants.  And 
why?  Simply  because  popular  language  does  not  clearly  state 
a  single  one  of  the  three  quahties  united  in  every  color,  and  which 
must  be  known  before  one  may  even  hope  to  convey  his  color 
conceptions  to  another. 

(2)  The  incongruous  and  bizarre  nature  of  our  present  color 
names  must  appear  to  any  thoughtful  person.  Baby  blue,  pea- 
cock blue,  Nile  green,  apple  green,  lemon  yellow,  straw  yellow, 
rose  pink,  hehotrope,  royal  purple,  Magenta,  Solferino,  plum,  and 
automobile  are  popular  terms,  conveying  different  ideas  to  dif- 
ferent persons  and  utterly  faihng  to  define  colors.  The  terms 
used  for  a  single  hue,  such  as  pea  green,  sea  green,  olive  green, 
grass  green,  sage  green,  evergreen,  invisible  green,  are  not  to  be 
trusted  in  ordering  a  piece  of  cloth.  They  invite  mistakes  and 
disappointment.  Not  only  are  they  inaccurate :  they  are  inappro- 
priate. Can  we  imagine  musical  tones  called  lark,  canary,  cock- 
atoo, crow,  cat,  dog,  or  mouse,  because  they  bear  some  distant 
resemblance  to  the  cries  of  those  animals?  See  paragraph  131. 
Color  needs  a  system. 

(3)  Music  is  equipped  with  a  system  by  which  it  defines  each 
sound  in  terms  of  its  pitch,  intensity,  and  duration,  without  drag- 
ging in  loose  allusions  to  the  endlessly  varjdng  sounds  of  nature. 
So  should  color  be  supplied  with  an  appropriate  system,  based 
on  the  hue,  value,  and  chroma  *  of  our  sensations,  and  not  attempt- 
ing to  describe  them  by  the  indefinite  and  varying  colors  of  nat- 
ural objects.  The  system  now  to  be  considered  portrays  the 
three  dimensions  of  color,  and  measures  each  by  an  appro- 
priate scale.  It  does  not  rest  upon  the  whim  of  an  indi^ddual, 
but  upon  physical  measurements  made  possible  by  special  color 

*  See  color  variables  in  Glossary. 


NAMES  11 

apparatus.  The  results  may  be  tested  by  any  one  who  comes  to 
the  problem  with  "  a  clear  mind,  a  good  eye,  and  a  fair  supply  of 
patience." 

Clear  mental  images  make  clear  speech.     Vague  thoughts  find  vague 
utterance. 

(4)  The  child  gathers  flowers,  hoards  colored  beads,  chases 
butterflies,  and  begs  for  the  gaudiest  painted  toys.  At  first  his 
strong  color  sensations  are  sufficiently  described  by  the  simple 
terms  of  red,  yellow,  green,  blue,  and  purple.  But  he  soon  sees 
that  some  are  light,  while  others  are  dark,  and  later  comes  to  per- 
ceive that  each  hue  has  many  grayer  degrees.  Now,  if  he  wants 
to  describe  a  particular  red, — such  as  that  of  his  faded  cap, — ^he 
is  not  content  to  merely  call  it  red,  since  he  is  aware  of  other  red 
objects  which  are  very  unlike  it.  So  he  gropes  for  means  to  define 
this  particular  red;  and,  having  no  standard  of  comparison, — no 
scale  by  which  to  estimate, — ^he  hesitatingly  says  it  is  a  "sort 
of  dull  red." 

(5)  Thus  early  is  he  cramped  by  the  poverty  of  color  language. 
He  has  never  been  given  an  appropriate  word  for  this  color  qual- 
ity, and  has  to  borrow  one  signifying  the  opposite  of  sharp,  which 
belongs  to  edge  tools  rather  than  to  colors. 

Most  color  terms  are  borrowed  from  other  senses. 

(6)  When  his  older  sister  refers  to  the  "tone"  of  her  green  dress, 
or  speaks  of  the  "key  of  color"  in  a  picture,  he  is  naturally  con- 
fused, because  tone  and  key  are  terms  associated  in  his  mind  with 
music.  It  may  not  be  long  before  he  will  hear  that  "a  color 
note  has  been  pitched  too  high,"  or  that  a  certain  artist  "  paints  in 
a  minor  key."  All  these  terms  lead  to  mixed  and  indefinite  ideas, 
and  leave  him  unequipped  for  the  clear  expression  of  color  qualities. 

(7)  Musical  art  is  not  so  handicapped.     It  has  an  estabHshed 


12  NAMES 

scale   with    measured    intervals    and    definite    terms.     Likewise, 
coloristic  art  must  establish  a  scale,  measure  its  intervals,  and 
name  its  qualities  in  unmistakable  fashion. 
Color  has  three  dimensions. 

(8)  It  may  sound  strange  to  say  that  color  has  three  dimensions, 
but  it  is  easily  proved  by  the  fact  that  each  of  them  can  be  meas- 
ured. Thus  in  the  case  of  the  boy's  faded  cap  its  redness  or 
HUE*  is  determined  by  one  instrument;  the  amount  of  Hght  in 
the  red,  which  is  its  value,*  is  found  by  another  instrument;  while 
still  a  third  instrument  determines  the  purity  or  chkoma  *  of  the 
red. 

The  omission  of  any  one  of  these  three  qualities  leaves  us  in 
doubt  as  to  the  character  of  a  color,  just  as  truly  as  the  character 
of  this  studio  would  remain  undefined  if  the  length  were  omitted 
and  we  described  it  as  22  feet  wide  by  14  feet  high.  The  imagi- 
nation would  be  free  to  ascribe  any  length  it  chose,  from  25  to  100 
feet.  This  length  might  be  differently  conceived  by  every  indi- 
vidual who  tried  to  supply  the  missing  factor. 

(9)  To  illustrate  the  tri-dimensional  nature  of  colors.  Suppose 
we  peel  an  orange  and  divide  it  in  five  parts,  leaving  the  sections 

slightly  connected  below  (Fig.  4).  Then 
"^•^•'xx     >^***  let  us  say  that  all  the  reds  we  have  ever 

^'*V/V\\// /a\  ^^^^  ^^^  gathered  in  one  of  the  sections,  all 

yellows  in  another,  all  greens  in  the  third, 

blues  in  the  fourth,  and  purples  in  the  fifth. 
.-.  .^       Next  we  will  assort  these  hues  in  each  sec- 

tion  so  that  the  lightest  are  near  the  top, 
and  grade  regularly  to  the  darkest  near  the  bottom.  A  white 
wafer  connects  all  the  sections  at  the  top,  and  a  black  wafer  may 
be  added  beneath. 

*  For  definitions  of  Hue,  Value,  and  Chroma,  see  paragraphs  20—23. 


NAMES  13 

(10)  The  fruit  is  then  filled  with  assorted  colors,  graded  from 
white  to  black,  according  to  their  values,  and  disposed  by  their 
HUES  in  the  five  sections.  A  sHce  near  the  top  will  uncover  fight 
values  in  all  hues,  and  a  sfice  near  the  bottom  wiU  find  dark 
values  in  the  same  hues.  A  sfice  across  the  middle  discloses  a 
circuit  of  hues  all  of  middle  value;  that  is,  midway  between  » 
the  extremes  of  white  and  black. 

(11)  Two  color  dimensions  are  thus  shown  in  the  orange,  and 
it  remains  to  exhibit  the  third,  which  is  called  chroma,  or  strength 
of  color.  To  do  this,  we  have  only  to  take  each  section  in  turn, 
and,  without  disturbing  the  values  already  assorted,  shove  the  gray- 
est in  toward  the  narrow  edge,  and  grade  outward  to  the  purest 
on  the  surface.  Each  slice  across  the  fruit  still  shows  the  circuit 
of  hues  in  one  uniform  value ;  but  the  strong  chromas  are  at  the 
outside,  while  grayer  and  grayer  chromas  make  a  gradation  in- 
ward to  neutral  gray  at  the  centre,  where  all  trace  of  color  disap- 
pears. The  thin  edges  of  all  sections  unite  in  a  scale  of  gray  from 
black  to  white,  no  matter  what  hue  each  contains. 

The  curved  outside  of  each  section  shows  its  particular  hue 
graded  from  black  to  white ;  and,  should  the  section  be  cut  at  right 
angles  to  the  thin  edge,  it  would  show  the  third  dimension, — 
chroma, — ^for  the  color  is  graded  evenly  from  the  surface  to  neutral 
gray.     A  pin  stuck  in  at  any  point  traces  the  third  dimension. 

A  color  sphere  can  be  used  to  unite  the  three 
dimensions  of  hue,  value,  and  chroma. 

(12)  Having  used  the  familiar  structure  of 

the  orange  as  a  help  in  classifying  colors,  let 

us  substitute  a  geometric  solid,  like  a  sphere,* 

and   make   use   of   geographical   terms.     The 

north  pole  is  white.     The  south  pole  is  black. 

*  See  frontispiece. 


14  NAMES 

The  equator  is  a  circuit  of  middle  reds,  yellows,  greens,  blues, 
and  purples.  Parallels  aboA^e  the  equator  describe  this  circuit  in 
lighter  values,  and  parallels  below  trace  it  in  darker  values. 
The  vertical  axis  joining  black  and  white  is  a  neutral  scale  of 
gray  values,  while  perpendiculars  to  it  (like  a  pin  thrust  into  the 
orange)  are  scales  of  chroma.  Thus  our  color  notions  may  be 
brought  into  an  orderly  relation  by  the  color  sphere.  Any  color 
describes  its  light  and  strength  by  its  location  in  the  solid  or  on 
the  surface,  and  is  named  by  its  place  in  the  combined  scales  of 
hue,  value,  and  chroma. 
Two  dimensions  fail  to  describe  a  color. 

(13)  Much  of  the  popular  misunderstanding  of  color  is  caused 
by  ignorance  of  these  three  dimensions  or  by  an  attempt  to  make 
two  dimensions  do  the  work  of  three. 

(14)  Flat  diagrams  showing  hues  and  values,  but  omitting  to 
define  chromas,  are  as  incomplete  as  would  be  a  map  of  Switzer- 
land with  the  mountains  left  out,  or  a  harbor  chart  without  indi- 
cations of  the  depth  of  water.  We  find  by  aid  of  the  measuring 
instruments  that  pigments  are  very  unequal  in  this  third  dimen- 
sion,— chroma, — ^producing  mountains  and  valleys  on  the  color 
sphere,  so  that,  when  the  color  system  is  worked  out  in  pigments 
and  charted,  some  colors  must  be  traced  well  out  beyond  the 
spherical  surface  (paragraphs  125-127).  Indeed,  a  color  tree* 
is  needed  to  display  by  the  unequal  levels  and  lengths  of  its  branches 
the  individuality  of  pigment  colors.  But,  whatever  solid  or  figure  is 
used  to  illustrate  color  relations,  it  must  combine  the  three  scales  of 
hue,  value,  and  chroma,  and  these  definite  scales  furnish  a  name 
for  every  color  based  upon  its  intrinsic  qualities,  and  free  from 
terms  purloined  in  other  sensations,  or  caught  from  the  fluctuating 
colors  of  natural  objects. 

*  For  description  of  the  Color  Tree,  see  paragraphs  33  and  34. 


NAMES  15 

How  this  system  describes  the  spectrum. 

(15)  The  solar  spectrum  and  rainbow  are  the  most  stimulating 
color  experiences  with  which  we  are  acquainted.  Can  they  be 
described  by  this  solid  system  ? 

(16)  The  lightest  part  of  the  spectrum  is  a  narrow  field  of  green- 
ish yellow,  grading  into  darker  red  on  one  side  and  into  darker 
green  upon  the  other,  followed  by  still  darker  blue  and  purple. 
Upon  the  sphere  the  values  of  these  spectral  colors  trace  a  path 
high  up  on  the  yellow  section,  near  white,  and  slanting  down- 
ward across  the  red  and  green  sections,  which  are  traversed  near 
the  level  of  the  equator,  it  goes  on  to  cross  the  blue  and  purple 
well  down  toward  black. 

(17)  This  forms  an  inclined  circuit,  crossing  the  equator  at 
opposite  points,  and  suggests  the  ecHptic  or  the  rings  of  Saturn 
(see  outside  cover).  A  pale  rainbow  would  describe  a  slanting 
circuit  nearer  white,  and  a  dimmer  one  would  fall  within  the  sphere, 
while  an  intensely  brilliant  spectrum  projects  far  beyond  the  sur- 
face of  the  sphere,  so  greatly  is  the  chroma  of  its  hues  in  excess 
of  the  common  pigments  with  which  we  work  out  our  problems. 

(18)  At  the  outset  it  is  well  to  recognize  the  place  of  the  spectrum 
in  this  system,  not  only  because  it  is  the  established  basis  of  sci- 
entific study,  but  especially  because  the  invariable  order  assumed 
by  its  hues  is  the  only  stable  hint  which  Nature  affords  us  in 
her  infinite  color  play. 

(19)  All  our  color  sensations  are  included  in  the  color  soUd. 
None  are  left  out  by  its  scales  of  hue,  value,  and  chroma.  Indeed, 
the  imagination  is  led  to  conceive  and  locate  still  purer  colors 
than  any  we  now  possess.  Such  increased  degrees  of  color  sen- 
sation can  be  named,  and  clearly  conveyed  by  symbols  to  another 
person  as  soon  as  the  system  is  comprehended. 


Appendix  to  Chapter  I. 
Misnomers  for  Color. 

The  Century  Dictionarj^  helps  an  intelligent  study  of  color 
by  its  clear  definitions  and  cross-references  to  hue,  value,  and 
CHROMA, — ^leaving  no  excuse  for  those  who  would  confuse  these 
three  quahties  or  treat  a  degree  of  any  quahty  as  the  quality 
itseK. 

Obscure  statements  were  frequent  in  text-books  before  these 
new  definitions  appeared.  Thus  the  term  "shade"  should  be 
applied  only  to  darkened  values,  and  not  to  hues  or  chromas. 
Yet  one  writer  says,  "  This  yellow  shades  into  green,"  which  is  cer- 
tainly a  change  of  hue,  and  then  speaks  of  "a  brighter  shade" 
in  spite  of  his  evident  intention  to  suggest  a  stronger  chroma, 
which  is  neither  a  shade  nor  brighter  luminosity. 

Children  gain  wrong  notions  of  "tint  and  shade"  from  the 
so-called  standard  colors  shown  to  them,  which  present  "  tints " 
of  red  and  blue  much  darker  than  the  "shades"  of  yellow.  This 
is  bewildering,  and,  Hke  their  elders,  they  soon  drop  into  the  loose 
habit  of  calling  any  degree  of  color-strength  or  color-fight  a 
"shade."  Value  is  a  better  term  to  describe  the  light  which 
color  reflects  to  the  eye,  and  all  color  values,  light  or  dark,  are 
measured  by  the  value-scale. 

"Tone"  is  used  in  a  confusing  way  to  mean  different  things. 
Thus  in  the  same  sentence  we  see  it  refers  to  a  single  touch  of  the 
brush, — which  is  not  a  tone,  but  a  paint  spot, — ^and  then  we 


NAMES  17 

read  that  the  "tone  of  the  canvas  is  golden."  This  cannot  mean 
that  each  paint  spot  is  the  color  of  gold,  but  is  intended  to  suggest 
that  the  various  objects  depicted  seem  enveloped  in  a  yellow  at- 
mosphere. Tone  is,  in  fact,  a  musical  term  appropriate  to  sound, 
but  out  of  place  in  color.  It  seems  better  to  call  the  brush  touch 
a  color-spot:  then  the  result  of  an  harmonious  relation  between 
all  the  spots  is  color-envelope ,  or,  as  in  Rood,  *'  the  chromatic  com- 
position. " 

"Intensity"  is  a  misleading  term,  if  chroma  be  intended,  for  it 
depends  on  the  relative  light  of  spectral  hues.  It  is  a  degree 
rather  than  a  quality,  as  appears  in  the  expressions,  intense  heat, 
light,  sound, — intensity  of  stimulus  and  reaction.  Being  a  degree 
of  many  qualities,  it  should  not  be  used  to  describe  the  quality 
itself.  The  word  becomes  especially  unfit  when  used  to  describe 
two  very  different  phases  of  a  color, — as  its  intense  illumination, 
where  the  chroma  is  greatly  weakened,  and  the  strongest  chroma 
which  is  found  in  a  much  lower  value.  "Purity"  is  also  to  be 
avoided  in  speaking  of  pigments,  for  not  one  of  our  pigments 
represents  a  single  pure  ray  of  the  spectrum. 

Examples  are  constantly  found  of  the  mental  blur  caused  by 
such  unfortunate  terms,  and,  since  misunderstanding  becomes  im- 
possible with  measured  degrees  of  hue,  value,  and  chroma,  it  seems 
only  a  question  of  time  when  they  will  take  the  place  of  tint,  tone, 
shade,  purity  and  intensity. 


Color  schemes  are  now  successfully  transmitted  by  letter,  telephone  and  telegraph  by 
using  the  written  scales  or  Notation  of  the  Munsell  Color  Atlas.  This  seems  to  answer 
Stevenson's  appeal  quoted  at  the  beginning  of  the  chapter. 


Chapter  II. 
COLOR  QUALITIES. 

(20)  The  three  color  qualities  are  hue,  value,  and  chroma. 
HUE  is  the  name  of  a  color. 

(21)  Hue  is  the  quality  by  which  we  distinguish  one  color  from 
another,  as  a  red  from  a  yellow,  a  green,  a  blue,  or  a  purple. 
This  names  the  hue,  but  does  not  tell  whether  it  is  Hght  or  dark, 
weak  or  strong, — ^leaving  us  in  doubt  as  to  its  value  and  its  chroma. 

Science  attributes  this  quality  to  difference  in  the  length  of  ether 
waves  impinging  on  the  retina,  which  causes  the  sensation  of  color. 
The  wave  length  M.  5269  gives  a  sensation  of  green,  while  M.  6867 
gives  a  sensation  of  red.* 
VALUE  is  the  light  of  a  color. 

(22)  Value  is  the  quality  by  which  we  distinguish  a  light  color 
from  a  dark  one.  Color  values  are  loosely  called  tints  and  shades, 
but  the  terms  are  frequently  misapplied.  A  tint  should  be  a  light 
value,  and  a  shade  should  be  darker;  but  the  word  "shade"  has 
become  a  general  term  for  any  sort  of  color,  so  that  a  shade  of 
yellow  may  prove  to  be  lighter  than  a  tint  of  blue.  A  photometric  f 
scale  of  value  places  all  colors  in  relation  to  the  extremes 
of  white  and  black,  but  cannot  describe  their  hue  or  their 
chroma. 

*  See  Glossary  for  definitions  of  Micron,  Photometer,  Retina,  and  Red,  also  for  Hue, 
Tint,  Shade,  Value,  Color  Variables,  Luminosity,  and  Chroma, 
t  See  Photometer  in  paragraph  65. 


QUALITIES  19 

Science  describes  this  quality  as  due  to  difference  in  the  height 
or  amplitude  of  ether  waves  impinging  on  the  retina.  Small  am- 
plitudes of  the  wave  lengths  given  in  paragraph  21  produce  the 
sensation  of  dark  green  and  dark  red :  larger  amplitudes  give  the 
sensation  of  lighter  green  and  lighter  red. 

CHROMA  is  the  strength  of  a  color. 

(23)  Chroma  is  the  quality  by  which  we  distinguish  a  strong 
color  from  a  weak  one.  To  say  that  a  rug  is  strong  in  color  gives 
no  hint  of  its  hues  or  values,  only  its  chromas.  Loss  of  chroma 
is  loosely  called  fading,  but  this  word  is  frequently  used  to  include 
changes  of  value  and  hue.  Take  two  autumn  leaves,  identical 
in  color,  and  expose  one  to  the  weather,  while  the  other  is  waxed 
and  pressed  in  a  book.  Soon  the  exposed  leaf  fades  into  a  neutral 
gray,  while  the  protected  one  preserves  its  strong  chroma  almost 
intact.  If,  in  fading,  the  leaf  does  not  change  its  hue  or  its  value, 
there  is  only  a  loss  of  chroma,  but  the  fading  process  is  more  likely 
to  induce  some  change  of  the  other  two  qualities.  Fading,  how- 
ever, cannot  define  these  changes. 

Science  describes  chroma  as  the  purity  of  one  wave  length  sep- 
arated from  all  others.  Other  wave  lengths,  intermingling, 
make  its  chroma  less  pure.  A  beam  of  dayHght  can  combine  all 
wave  lengths  in  such  balance  as  to  give  the  sensation  of  white- 
ness, because  no  single  wave  is  in  excess.* 

(24)  The  color  sphere  (see  Fig.  1)  is  a  convenient  model  to 
illustrate  these  three  qualities, — ^hue,  value,  and  chroma, — and 
unite  them  by  measured  scales. 

(25)  The  north  pole  of  the  color  sphere  is  white,  and  the  south 
pole  black.  Value  or  luminosity  of  colors  ranges  bet^^een  these 
two  extremes.     This  is  the  vertical  scale,  to  be  memorized  as  V, 

*  See  definition  of  White  in  Glossary. 


20  QUALITIES 

the    initial    for    both  value    and    vertical.     Vertical    movement 
through  color  may  thus  be  thought  of  as  a  change  of  value,  but 

not  as  a  change  of  hue  or  of  chroma.  Hues 
of  color  are  spread  around  the  equator  of 
the  sphere.  This  is  a  horizontal  scale, 
memorized  as  iJ,  the  initial  for  both  hue  and 
horizontal.  Horizontal  movement  around  the 
color  solid  is  thus  thought  of  as  a  change 
of  hue,  but  not  of  value  or  of  chroma.  A  line 
inward  from  the  strong  surface  hues  to  the 
neutral  gray  axis,  traces  the  graying  of  each  color,  which  is 
loss  of  chroma,  and  conversely  a  line  beginning  with  neutral 
gray  at  the  vertical  axis,  and  becoming  more  and  more  colored 
until  it  passes  outside  the  sphere,  is  a  scale  of  chroma,  which 
is  memorized  as  C,  the  initial  both  for  chroma  and  centre. 
Thus  the  sphere  lends  its  three  dimensions  to  color  description, 
and  a  color  applied  anywhere  within,  without,  or  on  its  surface  is 
located  and  named  by  its  degree  of  hue,  of  value,  and  of  chroma. 
HUES  first  appeal  to  the  child,  VALUES  next,  and  CHROMAS  last. 

(26)  Color  education  begins  with  ability  to  recognize  and  name 
certain  hues,  such  as  red,  yellow,  green,  blue,  and  purple  (see 
paragraphs  182  and  183).  Nature  presents  these  hues  in  union 
with  such  varieties  of  value  and  chroma  that,  unless  there  be  some 
standard  of  comparison,  it  is  impossible  for  one  person  to  describe 
them  intelligently  to  another. 

(27)  The  solar  spectrum  forms  a  basis  for  scientific  color  anal- 
ysis, taught  in  technical  schools;  but  it  is  quite  beyond  the  com- 
prehension of  a  child.  He  needs  something  more  tangible  and 
constantly  in  view  to  train  his  color  notions.  He  needs  to  handle 
colors,  place  them  side  by  side  for  comparison,  imitate  them  with 


QUALITIES  21 

crayons,  paints,  and  colored  stuffs,  so  as  to  test  the  growth  of  per- 
ception, and  learn  by  simple  yet  accurate  terms  to  describe  each 
by  its  hue,  its  value,  and  its  chroma. 

(28)  Pigments,  rather  than  the  solar  spectrum,  are  the  practical 
agents  of  color  work.  Certain  of  them,  selected  and  measured 
by  this  system  (see  Chapter  V.),  will  be  known  as  middle  colors, 
because  they  stand  midway  in  the  scales  of  value  and  chroma. 
These  middle  colors  are  preserved  in  imperishable  enamels,* 
so  that  the  child  may  handle  and  fix  them  in  his  memory,  and  thus 
gain  a  permanent  basis  for  comparing  all  degrees  of  color. 
He  learns  to  grade  each  middle  color  to  its  extremes  of  value 
and  chroma. 

(29)  Experiments  with  crayons  and  paints,  and  efforts  to  match 
middle  colors,  train  his  color  sense  to  finer  perceptions.  Having 
learned  to  name  colors,  he  compares  them  with  the  enamels  of 
middle  value,  and  can  describe  how  light  or  dark  they  are.  Later 
he  perceives  their  differences  of  strength,  and,  comparing  them 
with  the  enamels  of  middle  chroma,  can  describe  how  weak  or 
strong  they  are.  Thus  the  full  significance  of  these  middle  colors 
as  a  practical  basis  for  all  color  estimates  becomes  apparent;  and, 
when  at  a  more  advanced  stage  he  studies  the  best  examples  of 
decorative  color,  he  will  again  encounter  them  in  the  most  beauti- 
ful products  of  Oriental  art. 

*  When  recognized  for  the  first  time,  a  middle  green,  blue,  or  purple,  is  accepted  by 
most  persons  as  well  within  their  color  habit,  but  middle  red  and  middle  yeUow  cause 
somewhat  of  a  shock.  **  That  isn't  red,"  they  say,  "  it's  terra  cotta."  **  Yellow?"  "Oh, 
no,  that's — well,  it's  a  very  peculiar  shade." 

Yet  these  are  as  surely  the  middle  degrees  of  red  and  yellow  as  are  the  more  familiar 
degrees  of  green,  blue,  and  purple.  This  becomes  evident  as  soon  as  one  accepts  physical 
tests  of  color  in  place  of  personal  whim.  It  also  opens  the  mind  to  a  generally  ignored 
fact,  that  middle  reds  and  yellows,  instead  of  the  screaming  red  and  yellow  first  given 
a  child,  are  constantly  found  in  examples  of  rich  and  beautiful  color,  such  as  Persian  rugs, 
Japanese  prints,  and  the  masterpieces  of  painting. 


22  QUALITIES 

Is  it  possible  to  define  the  endless  varieties  of  color? 

(30)  At  first  glance  it  would  seem  almost  hopeless  to  attempt 
the  naming  of  every  kind  and  degree  of  color.  But,  if  all  these 
varieties  possess  the  same  three  qualities,  only  in  different  degrees, 
and  if  each  quality  can  be  measured  by  a  scale,  then  there  is  a 
clue  to  this  labyrinth. 

A  COLOR  SPHERE  and  COLOR  TREE  to  unite  hue,  value,  and  chroma. 

(31)  This  clue  is  found  in  the  union  of  these  three  qualities 
by  measured  scales  in  a  color  sphere  and  color  tree.^    The  equator 

of  the  sphere  f  may  be  divided  into  ten  parts, 
^  and  serve  as  the  scale  of  hue,  marked  B, 

J;  YE,  Y,  GY,  G,  BG,  B,  PB,  P,  and  RP. 

f^-'  ^'^'  'tV^^     Its  vertical  axis  may  be  divided  into  ten  parts 
-'^^-^^llllKllI-^--^       to  serve  as  the  scale  of  value,  numbered  from 
Ik  -  black  (0)  to  white  (10).     Any  perpendicular 

K     ?«j  3.        to  the  neutral  axis  is  a  scale  of  chroma.     On 
the  plane  of  the  equator  this  scale  is  num- 
bered 1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  from  the  centre  to  the  surface. 

(32)  This  chroma  scale  may  be  raised  or  lowered  to  any  level 
of  value,  always  remaining  perpendicular  to  the  axis,  and  serv- 
ing to  measure  the  chroma  of  every  hue  at  every  level  of  value. 
The  fact  that  some  colors  exceed  others  to  such  an  extent  as  to 
carry  them  out  beyond  the  sphere  is  proved  by  measuring  instru- 

*  See  Color  Tree  in  paragraph  14. 

f  Unaware  that  the  spherical  arrangement  had  been  used  years  before,  I  devised  a 
double  tetrahedron  to  classify  colors,  while  a  student  of  painting  in  1879.  It  now  appears 
that  the  sphere  was  common  property  with  psychologists,  having  been  described  by  Runge 
in  1810.  EarHer  still,  Lambert  had  suggested  a  pyramidal  form.  Both  are  based  on  the 
erroneous  assumption  that  red,  yellow,  and  blue  are  primary  sensations,  and  also  fail  to 
place  these  hues  in  a  just  scale  of  luminosity.  My  twirhng  color  solid  and  its  completer 
development  in  the  present  model  have  always  made  prominent  the  artistic  feeling  for 
color  value.  It  differs  in  this  and  in  other  ways  from  previous  systems,  and  is  fortunate 
in  possessing  new  apparatus  to  measure  the  degree  of  hue,  value,  and  chroma. 


QUALITIES  23 

ments,  but  the  fact  is  a  new  one  to  many  persons,  since  the  train- 
ing of  the  color  sense  has  been  left  so  much  to  guess-work  and 
personal  whim  that  the  thought  of  testing  these  vagaries  is  re- 
sented as  inartistic,  mechanical,  and  even  unwise,  and  the  sug- 
gestion of  written  color  seems  preposterous.  Only  a  few  centu- 
ries have  passed  since  Pope  Gregory's  friend  said,  *' Unless  musical 
soimds  be  retained  in  the  memory,  they  perish,  for  they  cannot 
be  written";  yet  musical  intervals  are  now  accurately  measured 
and  written,  and  the  time  may  not  be  far  distant  when  the  sen- 
sations of  value  and  chroma  will  be  defined  and  recorded  with 
equal  ease.  The  chroma  of  the  spectrum  is  nearly  equal  through- 
out, but  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  assume  the  same  of  pigments. 
In  fact,  the  best  blue-green  is  but  half  the  chroma  of  vermihon 
red;  and  this  becomes  evident  the  moment  they  are  tested  by 
proper  instruments.  To  portray  this  unbalance,  the  strongest 
hues  must  project  unevenly  beyond  a  spherical  siu-face,  as  shown 
in  the  appendix  to  this  chapter. 

(33)  For  this  reason  the  color  tree  is  a  completer  model 
than  the  sphere,  although  the  simpHcity  of  the  latter  makes  it 
best  for  a  child's  comprehension. 

(34)  The  color  tree  is  made  by  taking  the  vertical  axis  of  the 
sphere,  which  carries  a  scale  of  value,  for  the  trunk.  The  branches 
are  at  right  angles  to  the  trunk;  and,  as  in  the  sphere,  they  carry 
the  scale  of  chroma.  Colored  balls  on  the  branches  tell  their 
Hue.  In  order  to  show  the  maxima  of  color,  each  branch  is 
attached  to  the  trunk  (or  neutral  axis)  at  a  level  demanded  by 
its  value, — the  yellow  nearest  white  at  the  top,  then  the  green, 
red,  blue,  and  purple  branches,  approaching  black  in  the  order 
of  their  lower  values.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  chroma 
of  the  sphere  ceased  with  5  at  the  equator.     The  color  tree  pro- 


24  QUALITIES 

longs  this  through  6,  7,  8,  and  9.  The  branch  ends  carry  colored 
balls,  representing  the  most  powerful  red,  yellow,  green,  blue,  and 
purple  pigments  which  we  now  possess,  and  could  be  lengthened, 
should  stronger  chromas  be  discovered. 

(35)  Such  models  set  up  a  permanent  image  of  color  relations. 
Every  point  is  self-described  by  its  place  in  the  united  scales  of 
hue,  value,  and  chroma.  These  scales  fix  each  new  perception 
of  color  in  the  child's  mind  by  its  situation  in  the  color  solid.  The 
importance  of  such  a  definite  image  can  hardly  be  overestimated, 
for  without  it  one  color  sensation  tends  to  efface  another.  When 
the  child  looks  at  a  color,  and  has  no  basis  of  comparison,  it  soon 
leaves  a  vague  memory  that  cannot  be  described.  These  models, 
on  the  contrary,  lead  to  an  intelligent  estimate  of  each  color  in 
terms  of  its  hue,  its  value,  and  its  chroma;  while  the  permanent 
enamels  correct  any  personal  bias  by  a  definite  standard. 

(36)  Thus  defined,  a  color  falls  into  logical  relation  with  all 
other  colors  in  the  system,  and  is  easily  memorized,  so  that  its 
image  may  be  recalled  at  any  distance  of  time  or  place  by  the 
notation. 

(37)  These  solid  models  help  to  memorize  and  assemble  colors 
and  the  memory  is  further  strengthened  by  a  simple  notation, 
which  records  each  color  so  that  it  cannot  be  mistaken  for 
any  other.  By  these  written  scales  a  child  gains  an  in- 
stinctive estimate  of  relations,  so  that,  when  he  is  delighted 
with  a  new  color  combination,  its  proportions  are  noted  and 
understood. 

(38)  Musical  art  has  long  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  a  definite 
scale  and  notation.  Should  not  the  art  of  coloring  gain  by 
similar    definition?    The    musical    scale    is    not    left    to    per- 


QUALITIES  25 

sonal  whim,  nor  does  it  change  from  day  to  day;  and  something 
as  clear  and  stable  would  be  an  advantage  in  training  the  color 
sense. 

(39)  Perception  of  color  is  crude  at  first.  The  child  sees  only 
the  most  obvious  distinctions,  and  prefers  the  strongest  stimulation. 
But  perception  soon  becomes  refined  by  exercise,  and,  when 
a  child  tries  to  imitate  the  subtle  colors  of  nature  with  paints,  he 
begins  to  reahze  that  the  strongest  colors  are  not  the  most  beauti- 
ful,— rather  the  tempered  ones,  which  may  be  compared  to  the 
moderate  sounds  in  music.  To  describe  these  tempered  colors, 
he  must  estimate  their  hue,  value,  and  chroma,  and  be  able  to  de- 
scribe in  what  degree  his  copy  departs  from  the  natural  color. 
And,  with  this  gain  in  perception  and  imitation  of  natural  color, 
he  finds  a  strong  desire  to  invent  combinations  to  please 
his  fancy.  Thus  the  study  divides  into  three  related  attitudes, 
which  may  be  called  recognition,  imitation,  and  invention.  Rec- 
ognition of  color  is  fundamental,  but  it  would  be  tedious  to  spend 
a  year  or  two  in  formal  and  dry  exercises  to  train  recognition  of  color 
alone ;  for  each  step  in  recognition  of  color  is  best  tested  by  exercise  in 
its  imitation  and  arrangement.  When  perception  becomes  keener, 
emphasis  can  be  placed  on  imitation  of  the  colors  found  in  art  and  in 
nature,  resting  finally  on  the  selection  and  grouping  of  colors  for 
design.* 

Every  color  can  be  recognized,  named,  matched,  imitated,  and  written 
by  its  HUE,  VALUE,  and  CHROMA. 

(40)  The  notation  used  in  this  system  places  Hue  (expressed 
by  an  initial)  at  the  left;  Value  (expressed  by  a  number)  at 
the  right  and  above   a  line;    and   Chroma  (also  expressed  by 

*  See  Course  of  Study,  Part  II. 


26  QUALITIES 

a   number)    at    the   right,    below    the   line.      Thus  Ry  o^  means 

HUE  (red), ,  and  will  be  found  to  represent  the  qual- 

CHROMA  (10) 

ities  of  the  pigment  vermilion.* 

Hue,  value,  and  chroma  unite  in  every  color  sensation,  but  the 
child  cannot  grasp  them  all  at  once.  Hue-difference  appeals  to 
him  first,  and  he  gains  a  permanent  idea  of  &ye  principal  hues 
from  the  enamels  of  middle  colors,  learning  to  name,  match, 
imitate,  and  finally  write  them  by  their  initials:  R  (red),  Y 
(yellow),  G  (green),  B  (blue),  and  P  (purple).  Intermediates 
formed  by  uniting  successive  pairs  are  also  written  by  the 
joined  initials,  YR  (yellow-red),  GY  (green-yellow),  BG  (blue- 
green),  PB  (purple-blue),  and  RP  (red-purple). 

(41)  Ten  differences  of  hue  are  as  many  as  a  child  can  render 
at  the  outset,  yet  in  matching  and  imitating  them  he  becomes 
aware  of  their  light  and  dark  quality,  and  learns  to  separate  it 
from  hue  as  value-difference.  Middle  colors,  as  impUed  by  that 
name,  stand  midway  between  white  and  black, — ^that  is,  on  the 
equator  of  the  sphere, — ^so  that  a  middle  red  will  be  written  R-^, 
suggesting  the  steps  6,  7,  8,  and  9  which  are  above  the  equator, 
while  steps  4,  3,  2,  and  1  are  below.  It  is  well  to  show  only  three 
values  of  a  color  at  first;  for  instance,  the  middle  value  contrasted 
with  a  light  and  a  dark  one.  These  are  written  R^,  R^,  R-^. 
Soon  he  perceives  and  can  imitate  finer  differences,  and  the  red 
scale  may  be  written  entire,  as  R-,  R-^,  R-^,  R^,  R-,  R^,  R^,  R-^, 
R-^,  with  black  as  0  and  white  as  10. 

(42)  Chroma-difference  is  the  third  and  most  subtle  color  qual- 
ity. The  child  is  already  unconsciously  familiar  with  the  middle 
chroma  of  red,  having  had  the  enamels  of  middle  color  always 

*  See  Chapter  VI. 


QUALITIES  27 

in  view,  and  the  red  enamel  is  to  be  contrasted  with  the  strongest 
and  weakest  red  chromas  obtainable.  These  he  writes  Ry,  R^, 
Ryo^jSeeing  that  this  describes  the  chromas  of  red,  but  leaves 
out  its  values.  Ry,  R|^,  Rto"»  is  the  complete  statement,  showing 
that,  while  both  hue  and  value  are  unchanged,  the  chroma 
passes  from  grayish  red  to  middle  red  (enamel  first  learned) 
and  out  to  the  strongest  red  in  the  chroma  scale  obtained  by 
vermiHon. 

(43)  It  may  be  long  before  he  can  imitate  the  intervening  steps 
of  chroma,  many  children  finding  it  difficult  to  express  more 
than  five  steps  of  the  chroma  scale,  although  easily  making  ten 
steps  of  value  and  from  twenty  to  thirty-five  steps  of  hue.  This 
interesting  feature  is  of  psychologic  value,  and  has  been  followed 
in  the  color  tree  and  color  sphere. 

Does  such  a  scientific  scheme  leave  any  outlet  for  feeling  and  personal 
expression  of  beauty? 

(44)  Lest  this  exact  attitude  in  color  study  should  seem  inar- 
tistic, compared  with  the  free  and  almost  chaotic  methods  in  use, 
let  it  be  said  that  the  stage  thus  far  outlined  is  frankly  disciplinary. 
It  is  somewhat  dry  and  unattractive,  just  as  the  early  musical 
training  is  fatiguing  without  inventive  exercises.  The  child  should 
be  encouraged  at  each  step  to  exercise  his  fancy. 

(45)  Instead  of  cramping  his  outlook  upon  nature,  it  widens 
his  grasp  of  color,  and  stores  the  memory  with  finer  differences, 
supplying  more  material  by  which  to  express  his  sense  of  color- 
istic  beauty. 

(46)  Color  harmony,  as  now  treated,  is  a  purely  personal  affair, 
difficult  to  refer  to  any  clear  principles  or  definite  laws.  The  very 
terms  by  which  it  seeks  expression  are  borrowed  from  music,  and 
suggest  vague  analogies  that  fail  when  put  to  the  test.      Color 


28  QUALITIES 

needs  a  new  set  of  expressive  terms,  appropriate  to  its  qualities, 
before  we  can  make  an  analysis  as  to  the  harmony  or  discord  of 
our  color  sensations. 

(47)  This  need  is  supplied  in  the  present  system  by  measured 
CHARTS,  and  a  notation.  Their  very  construction  preserves  the 
balance  of  colors,  as  will  be  shown  in  the  next  chapter,  while  the 
chapter  on  harmony  (Chapter  VII.)  shows  how  harmonious  pairs 
and  triads  of  color  may  be  found  by  masks  with  measured  intervals. 
In  fact,  practice  in  the  use  of  the  charts  supplies  the  imagination 
with  scales  and  sequences  of  color  quite  as  definite  and  quite  as 
easily  written  as  those  sound  intervals  by  which  the  musician  con- 
veys to  others  his  sense  of  harmony.  And,  although  in  neither 
art  can  training  alone  make  the  artist,  yet  a  technical  grasp  of 
these  formal  scales  gives  acquaintance  with  the  full  range  of  the 
instrument,  and  is  indispensable  to  artistic  expression.  From 
these  color  scales  each  individual  is  free  to  choose  combinations 
in  accord  with  his  feeling  for  color  harmony. 

Let  us  make  an  outline  of  the  course  of  color  study  traced  in 
the  preceding  pages.* 
PERCEPTION  of  color. 

(48)  Hue-difference. 

Middle  hues  (5  principals). 
Middle  hues  (5  intermediates). 

Middle  hues  (10  placed  in  sequence  as  scale  of  hue). 
Value-difference. 

Light,  middle,  and  dark  values  (without  change  of  hue). 
Light,  middle,  and  dark  values  (traced  with  5  principal 

hues). 
10  values  traced  with  each  hue.     scale  of  value.     The 

Color  Sphere. 

*  See  Part  II.,  A  Color  System  and  Course  of  Study. 


QUALITIES  29 

Chroma-difference. 

Strong,  middle,  and  weak  chroma  (without  change  of 

hue). 
Strong,  middle    and  weak  chroma  (traced  with  three 

values  without  change  of  hue). 
Strong,  middle,  and  weak  chroma  (traced  with  three 

values  and  ten  hues). 
Maxima  of  color  and  their  gradation  to  white,  black, 
and  gray.     The  Color  Tree, 
EXPRESSION  of  color. 

(49)  Matching  and  imitation  of  hues  (using  stuffs,  crayons,  and 
paints). 
Matching  and  imitation  of  values  and  hues  (using  stuffs, 

crayons,  and  paints). 
Matching  and  imitation  of  chromas,  values,  and  hues  (using 
stuffs,  crayons,  and  paints). 

Value  V     ^°^*^^^  ^^^  ^"^' 

Notation  of  color.    Hue  — >    H  ->    numeral    above 

Chroma  C      „         , 

tor  value,  num- 
eral below  for  chroma. 
Sequences  of  color. 

Two  scales  united,  as  hue  and  value,  or  chroma  and  value. 
Three  scales  united, — each  step  a  change  of  hue,  value, 
and  chroma. 
Balance  of  color. 

Opposites  of  equal  value  and  chroma  (Rf  and  BG|). 
Opposites  of  equal  value  and  unequal  chroma  (Rf  and 

BGf). 
Opposites  unequal  both  in  value  and  chroma  (Il|  and 

BGf). 
Area  as  an  element  of  balance. 


30  QUALITIES 

HARMONY  of  color. 

(50)  Selection  of  colors  that  give  pleasure. 

Study  of  butterfly  wings  and  flowers,  recorded  by  the 

NOTATION. 

Study  of  painted  ornament,  rugs,  and  mosaics,  recorded 

by  the  notation. 
Personal  choice  of  color  pairs,  balanced  by  H,  V,  C, 

and  area. 
Personal  choice  of  color  triads,  balanced  by  H,  V,  C, 

and  area. 
Grouping  of  colors  to  suit  some  practical  use :  wall  papers, 

rugs,  book  covers,  etc. 
Their  analysis  by  the  written  notation. 
Search  for  principles  of  harmony,  expressed  in  measured 

terms. 

A  definite  plan  of  color  study,  with  freedom  as  to  details  of  presentation.* 

(51)  Having  memorized  these  broad  divisions  of  the  study,  a 
clever  teacher  will  introduce  many  a  detail,  to  meet  the  mood  of 
the  class,  or  correlate  this  subject  with  other  studies,  without  for 
a  moment  losing  the  thread  of  thought  or  befogging  the  presenta- 
tion. But  to  range  at  random  in  the  immense  field  of  color  sensa- 
tions, without  plan  or  definite  aim  in  view,  only  courts  fatigue  of 
the  retina  and  a  chaotic  state  of  mind. 

(52)  The  same  broad  principles  which  govern  the  presentation 
of  other  ideas  apply  with  equal  force  in  this  study.  A  little,  well 
apprehended,  is  better  than  a  mass  of  undigested  facts.  If  the 
child  is  led  to  discover,  or  at  least  to  think  he  is  discovering,  new 
things  about  color,  the  mind  will  be  kept  alert  and  seek  out  novel 
illustrations  at  every  step.     Now  and  then  a  pupil  will  be  found 

*  See  Color  Study  assigned  to  each  grade,  in  Part  II. 


QUALITIES  31 

who  leads  both  teacher  and  class  by  intuitive  appreciation  of  color, 
and  it  is  a  subtle  question  how  far  such  a  nature  can  be  helped 
or  hurt  by  formal  exercises.  But  such  an  exception  is  rare,  and 
goes  to  prove  that  systematic  discipline  of  the  color  sense  is  neces- 
sary for  most  children. 

(53)  Outdoor  nature  and  indoor  surroundings  offer  endless 
color  illustrations.  Birds,  flowers,  minerals,  and  the  objects  in 
daily  use  take  on  a  new  interest  when  their  varied  colors  are 
brought  into  a  conscious  relation,  and  clearly  named.  A  tri- 
dimensional perception,  Hke  this  sense  of  color,  requires  skilful 
training,  and  each  lesson  must  be  simplified  to  the  last  point 
practicable.  It  must  not  be  too  long,  and  should  lead  to  some 
definite  result  which  a  child  can  grasp  and  express  with 
tolerable  accuracy,  while  its  difficulties  should  be  approached 
by  easy  stages,  so  as  to  avoid  failure  or  discouragement.  The 
success  of  the  present  effort  is  the  best  incentive  to  further 
achievement. 


Appendix  to  Chapter  II. 

To  avoid  blundering  with  pigment  colors,  it  is  well  to  learn 
their  unbalanced  value  and  chroma,  as  graphically  shown  on  the 
opposite  page.  The  central  drawing  of  the  Color  Tree,  and  half 
scale  sections  in  the  comers,  give  a  measured  model  of  all  color 
relations. 

The  upper  left-hand  diagram  is  a  vertical  sHce  through  the 
neutral  axis  containing  the  complementary  fields  of  blue  and 
yellow-red  (alias  orange).  This  unbalanced  pair  may  be  com- 
pensated by  diminishing  either  the  chroma  or  the  area  of  yellow- 
red,  as  explained  in  paragraph  77  on  page  44.  The  upper  right- 
hand  section  contains  the  complementary  fields  of  yellow  and 
pm-ple-blue  which  are  nearly  equal  in  area,  but  inverted  as  to 
luminosity, — a  form  of  balance  suggested  in  paragraph  76.  The 
lower  left-hand  diagram  gives  the  complementary  fields  of  purple 
and  green-yellow  which  are  nearly  compensated,  as  are  the  re- 
maining pair  of  green  and  red-purple. 

The  contour  of  the  central  drawing  shows  the  most  unbalanced 
fields  of  red  and  its  complement  blue-green,  the  latter  being  but 
half  as  strong  as  red.  It  is  this  weak  blue-green  that  limits  the 
size  of  the  color  sphere,  which  may  be  increased  as  soon  as  a  reh- 
able  blue-green  of  stronger  chroma  is  available.  And  here  let  it 
be  added  that  different  makes  of  pigment  vary  considerably, 
while  the  output  of  a  single  maker  may  vary  from  year  to  year, 
owing  to  fluctuations  in  the  color  bases,  which  this  measured 
system  will  detect  and  rectify. 

The  importance  of  understanding  these  imbalanced  qualities  of 
paint  can  hardly  be  overstated,  and  those  who  find  it  difficult  to 


1\\z  Colo^TKee 


^ed 


Ptttplc  is  GY 


Gr^cn  ill\P 


APPENDIX    TO    CHAPTER    II  33 


grasp  such  relations  from  a  diagram  should  have  a  model  of  the 
Color  Tree  *  at  hand  when  studying  these  chapters. 

Three  horizontal  slices  are  taken  through  the  diagrams  and 
central  drawing,  to  represent  charts  30,  50,  and  70  of  the  Color 
Atlas  *  on  whose  measured  scales  are  printed  symbols  giving  the 
proportions  by  which  any  pair  or  group  of  colors  may  be  balanced. 
This  is  also  illustrated  in  the  folded  color  plate  (V.)  at  the  end  of 
the  book.  Masks  of  black  paper  will  aid  in  the  selection  of  such 
groups,  as  suggested  in  paragraphs  47  and  167-171.  In  these 
color  scales  any  fractional  part  of  a  decimal  series  is  discarded 
for  the  sake  of  simplicity,  but  may  be  estimated  by  the  eye. 

The  Color  Sphere*  appears  in  each  diagram  as  a  circle  struck 
from  middle  gray.  It  excludes  the  uneven  maxima  of  color  de- 
scribed in  paragraph  34,  and  represents  Nature's  determination 
to  temper  color  by  dimming  the  brilliance  of  white  and  the  black- 
ness of  velvet,  fading  the  discords  of  the  bill-board,  and  enriching 
the  envelope  of  old  paintings,  tapestries,  ceramics,  and  prints. 

This  may  be  tested  in  any  museum  of  art,  for  with  the  maxima 
in  one  hand  and  the  middle  colors  of  the  sphere  in  the  other,  it 
becomes  evident  that  the  latter  abound  in  the  most  beautiful 
examples,  while  the  maxima  are  absent  or  admitted  only  as  small 
accents  to  balance  large  fields  of  quiet  chroma. 

*  The  Color  Tree,  Color  Sphere,  Atlas  of  the  Munsell  Color  System,  and  other  illiistra- 
tive  material  can  be  obtained  from  the  Munsell  Color  Co.,  New  York.  See  descriptive  list  at 
end  of  book. 


Chapter  m. 

COLOR  MIXTURE  AND  BALANCE. 

All  colors  grasped  in  the  hand. 

(54)  Let  us  recall  the  names  and  order  of  colors  given  in  the 
last  chapter,  with  their  assemblage  in  a  sphere  by  the  three  qual- 
ities of  HUE,  VALUE,  and  CHROMA.  It  will  aid 
the  memory  to  call  the  thumb  of  the  left  hand 
RED,  the  forefinger  yellow,  the  middle  finger 
GREEN,  the  ring  finger  blue,  and  the  little 
finger  purple  (Fig.  6).  When  the  finger 
tips  are  in  a  circle,  they  represent  a  circuit  of 
hues,  which  has  neither  beginning  nor  end,  for 
we  can  start  with  any  finger  and  trace  a  se- 
quence forward  or  backward.  Now  close  the  tips  together  for 
white,  and  imagine  that  the  five  strong  hues  have  slipped  down 
to  the  knuckles,  where  they  stand  for  the  equator  of  the  color 
sphere.     Still  lower  down  at  the  wrist  is  black. 

(55)  The  hand  thus  becomes  a  color  holder,  with  white  at  the 
finger  tips,  black  at  the  wrist,  strong  colors  around  the  outside, 
and  weaker  colors  within  the  hollow.  Each  finger  is  a  scale  of  its 
own  color,  with  white  above  and  black  below,  while  the  graying 
of  all  the  hues  is  traced  by  imaginary  lines  which  meet  in  the 
middle  of  the  hand.  Thus  a  child's  hand  may  be  his  substitute 
for  the  color  sphere,  and  also  make  him  realize  that  it  is  filled  with 
grayer  degrees  of  the  outside  colors,  all  of  which  melt  into  gray 
in  the  centre. 


MIXTURE   &   BALANCE  35 


Neighborly  and  opposite  hues;    and  their  mixture. 

(56)  Let  this  circle  (Fig.  7)  stand  for  the  equator  of  the  color 
sphere  with  the  five  principal  hues  (written  by  their  initials  R,  Y, 

G,  B,  and  P)  spaced  evenly  about  it.  Some 
colors  are  neighbors,  as  red  and  yellow,  while 
others  are  opposites.  As  soon  as  a  child  ex- 
periments with  paints,  he  will  notice  the  dif- 
ferent results  obtained  by  mixing  them. 

First,  the  neighbors,  that  is,  any  pair  which 
lie  next  one  another,  as  red  and  yellow,  will 
unite  to  make  a  hue  which  retains  a  sugges- 
tion of  both.     It  is  intermediate  between  red  and  yellow,  and  we 

call  it  YELLOW-RED.* 

(57)  Green  and  yellow  unite  to  form  green-yellow,  blue  and 
green  make  blue-green,  and  so  on  with  each  succeeding  pair. 
These  intermediates  are  to  be  written  by  their  initials,  and  inserted 
in  their  proper  place  between  the  principal  hues.  It  is  as  if  an 
orange  (paragraph  9)  were  split  into  ten  sectors  instead  of  five, 
with  red,  yellow,  green,  blue,  and  purple  as  alternate  sectors, 
while  half  of  each  adjoining  color  pair  were  united  to  form 
the  sector  between  them.  The  original  order  of  five  hues  is  in 
no  wise  disturbed,  but  linked  together  by  five  intermediate  steps. 

(58)  Here  is  a  table  of  the  intermediates  made  by  mixing  each 
pair : — 

Red  and  yellow  unite  to  form  yellow-red  (YR),  popularly  called  orange.* 
Yellow  and  green  unite  to  form  green-yellow  (GY),  popularly  called  grass  green. 
Green  and  blue  unite  to  form  blue-green  (BG),  popularly  called  peacock  blue. 
Blue  and  purple  unite  to  form  purple-blue  (PB),  popularly  called  violet. 
Purple  and  red  unite  to  form  red-purple  (RP),  popularly  called  plum. 

*  Orange  is  a  variable  vinion  of  yellow  and  red.     See  Appendix. 


36  MIXTURE   &   BALANCE 

Using  the  left  hand  again  to  hold  colors,  the  principal  hues  re- 
main unchanged  on  the  knuckles,  but  in  the  hollows  between  them 
are  placed  intermediate  hues,  so  that  the  circle  now  reads:  red, 
yellow-red,  yellow,  green-yellow,  green,  blue-green,  blue,  purple- 
blue,  purple,  and  red-purple,  back  to  the  red  with  which  we  started. 
This  circuit  is  easily  memorized,  so  that  the  child  may  begin  with 
any  color  point,  and  repeat  the  series  clock  wise  (that  is,  from  left 
to  right)  or  in  reverse  order. 

(59)  Each  principal  hue  has  thus  made  two  close  neighbors 
by  mixing  with  the  nearest  principal  hue  on  either  hand.  The 
neighbors  of  red  are  a  yellow-red  on  one  side  and  a  purple-red  on 
the  other.  The  neighbors  of  green  are  a  green-yellow  on  one 
hand  and  a  blue-green  on  the  other.  It  is  evident  that  a  still 
closer  neighbor  could  be  made  by  again  mixing  each  consecutive 
pair  in  this  circle  of  ten  hues ;  and,  if  the  process  were  continued 
long  enough,  the  color  steps  would  become  so  fine  that  the  eye 
could  see  only  a  circuit  of  hues  melting  imperceptibly  one  into 
another. 

(60)  But  it  is  better  for  the  child  to  gain  a  fixed  idea  of  red, 
yellow,  green,  blue,  and  purple,  with  their  intermediates,  before 
attempting  to  mix  pigments,  and  these  ten  steps  are  sufficient  for 
primary  education. 

(61)  Next  comes  the  question  of  opposites  in  this  circle.  A 
line  drawn  from  red,  through  the  centre,  finds  its  opposite,  blue- 
green.*  If  these  colors  are  mixed,  they  unite  to  form  gray. 
Indeed,  the  centre  of  the  circle  stands  for  a  middle  gray,  not  only 
because  it  is  the  centre  of  the  neutral  axis  between  black  and 
white,  but  also  because  any  pair  of  opposites  will  unite  to  form 
gray. 

♦Green  is  often  wrongly  assigned  as  the  opposite  of  red.     See  Appendix,  on  False 
Color  Balance. 


MIXTURE   &   BALANCE  37 

(62)  This  is  a  table  of  five  mixtures  which  make  neutral  gray: 

Opposites  ■< 


'Red     &  Blue-green 
Yellow    Purple-blue 
Green      Red-purple 
Blue        Yellow-red 
Purple     Green-yellow  ^ 


>-Each  pair  of   which  unites   in  neutral 

gray. 


(63)  But  if,  instead  of  mixing  these  opposite  hues,  we  place 
them  side  by  side,  the  eye  is  so  stimulated  by  their  difference  that 
each  seems  to  gain  in  strength;  i.e.,  each  enhances  the  other  when 
separate,  but  destroys  the  other  when  mixed.  This  is  a  very  in- 
teresting point  to  be  more  fully  illustrated  by  the  help  of  a  color 
wheel  in  Chapter  V.,  paragraph  106.  What  we  need  to  re- 
member is  that  the  mixture  of  neighborly  hues  makes  them  less 
stimulating  to  the  eye,  because  they  resemble  each  other, 
while  a  mixture  of  opposite  hues  extinguishes  both  in  a  neutral 
gray. 

Hues  once  removed,  and  their  mixture. 

(64)  There  remains  the  question,  What  will  happen  if  we  mix, 
not  two  neighbors,  nor  two  opposites,  but  a  'pair  of  hues  once  re- 
moved in  the  circle,  such  as  red  and  green  ?     A 
line  joining  this  pair  does  not  pass  through  the 
neutral  centre,  but  to  one  side  nearer  yellow, 

^,^  »  f'\  ^,..^     which  shows  that  this  mixture  falls  between 
[  ^sf  y\S/^^  ]       neutral  gray  and  yellow,  partaking  somewhat 
IX'XiA  /         of  each.     In  the  same  way  a  Une  joining  yellow 
,^___^^  ^T^-S    and  blue  shows  that  their  mixture  contains 
both  green  and  gray.     Indeed,  a  line  joining 
any  two  colors  in  the  circuit  may  be  said  to  describe  their  union.     A 
radius  crossing   this   line  passes    to   some   hue  on   the   circum- 
ference,   and    describes    by  its   intersection   with    the    first   line 


38  MIXTURE    &   BALANCE 


the  chroma  of  the  color  made  by  a  mixture  of  the  two  original 
colors. 


Red       &  Green    make  Yellow-gray  ' 
Yellow      Blue  Green-gray 


Each   pair  unites   in   a  colored  gray, 


Green        Purple  Blue-gray       J>  which  is  an  intermediate  hue  of  weak 

Blue  Red  Purple-gray      chroma. 

Purple       Yellow  Red-gray 

Mixture  of  white  and  black:   a  scale  of  grays. 

(65)  So  far  we  have  thought  only  of  the  plane  of  the  equator, 
with  its  circle  of  middle  hues  in  ten  steps,  and  studied  their  mixt- 
ure by  drawing  Unes  to  join  them.     Now  let 
us  start  at  the  neutral  centre,  and  think  upward 
to  white  and  downward  to  black  (Fig.  9.) 

This  vertical  Hne  is  the  neutral  axis  joining 
the  poles  of  white  and  black,  which  represent 
the  opposites   of  Hght  and  darkness.     Middle 
'•^*  gray  is  half-way  between.     If  black  is  called  0, 
and  white  is   10,  then  the  middle  point  is  5, 
with  6,  7,  8,  and  9  above,  while  4,  3,  2,  and  1  are  below,  thus  mak- 
ing a  vertical  scale  of  grays  from  black  to  white  (Chapter  II., 
paragraph  25). 

If  left  to  personal  preference,  an  estimate  of  middle  value  will 
vary  with  each  individual  who  attempts  to  make  it.  This  appears 
in  the  neutral  scales  already  published  for  schools,  and  students 
who  depend  upon  them,  discover  a  variation  of  over  10  per  cent, 
in  the  selection  of  middle  gray.  Since  this  value  scale  underhes 
all  color  work,  it  needs  accurate  adjustment  by  scientific  means, 
as  in  scales  of  sound,  of  length,  of  weight,  or  of  temperature. 
A  PHOTOMETER  {fJioto,  Hght,  and  meter,  a  measure)*  is  shown 

*  Adopted  in  Course  on  Optical  Measurements  at  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology. Instruments  have  also  been  made  for  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  the  Treasury 
Department  in  Washington,  and  various  private  laboratories,  and  commercial  industries. 


MIXTURE   &   BALANCE 


on  the  next  page.  It  measures  the  relative  amount  of  light  which 
the  eye  receives  from  any  source,  and  so  enables  us  to  make  a 
scale  with  any  number  of  regular  steps.  The  principle  on  which 
it  acts  is  very  simple. 

A  rectangular  box,  divided  by  a  central  partition  into  halves,  has 
synmietrical  openings  in  the  front  walls,  which  permit  the  Hght  to 
reach  two  white  fields  placed  upon  the  back  walls.  If  one  looks 
in  through  the  observation  tube,  both  halves  are  seen  to  be  ex- 
actly ahke,  and  the  white  fields  equally  illuminated.  A  valve 
is  then  fitted  to  one  of  the  front  openings,  so  that  the  Hght  in  that 
half  of  the  photometer  may  be  gradually  diminished.  Its  white 
field  is  thus  darkened  by  measured  degrees,  and  becomes  black 
when  all  light  is  excluded  by  the  closed  valve.  While  this  dark- 
ening process  goes  on  in  one-half  of  the  instrument,  the  white 
field  in  the  other  half  does  not  change,  and,  looking  into  the  eye- 
piece, the  observer  sees  each  step  contrasted  with  the  original 
white.  One-haK  is  thus  said  to  be  variable  because  of  its  valve, 
and  the  other  side  is  said  to  be  fixed.  A  dial  connected  with 
the  valve  has  a  hand  moving  over  it  to  show  how  much  light  is 
admitted  to  the  field  in  the  variable  half. 

Let  us  now  test  one  of  these  personal  decisions  about  middle 
value.  A  sample  replaces  the  white  field  in  the  fixed  half, 
and  by  means  of  the  valve,  the  white  field  in  the  variable  half 
is  alternately  darkened  and  lightened,  until  it  matches  the  sample 
and  the  eye  sees  no  difference  in  the  two.  The  dial  then  discloses 
the  fact  that  this  supposedly  middle  value  reflects  only  4!-2  per 
cent,  of  the  light;  that  is  to  say,  it  is  nearly  a  whole  step  too  low 
in  a  decimal  scale.  Other  samples  err  nearly  as  far  on  the  light 
side  of  middle  value,  and  further  tests  prove  not  only  the  varjang 
color  sensitiveness  of  individuals,  but  detect  a  difference  betw^een 
the  left  and  right  eye  of  the  same  person. 


40 


MIXTURE    &   BALANCE 


PHOTOMETER. 


Back  View. 


Front  View. 


The  vagaries  of  color  estimate  thus  disclosed,  lead  some  to  seek 
shelter  in  "feeling  and  inspiration";  but  feeling  and  inspiration 
are  temperamental,  and  have  nothing  to  do  witb  the  simple  facts 
of  vision.  A  measured  and  unchanging  scale  is  as  necessary 
and  valuable  in  the  training  of  the  eye  as  the  musical  scale  in 
the  discipline  of  the  ear. 

It  will  soon  be  necessary  to  talk  of  the  values  in  each  color. 
We  may  distinguish  the  values  on  the  neutral  axis  from  color 
values  by  writing  themN^,  N^,  N^,  NS  N^,  N^  N^,  N^,  N^, 
N^^.  Such  a  scale  makes  it  easy  to  foresee  the  result  of  mixing 
hght  values  with  dark  ones.  Any  two  gray  values  in  varying 
proportions  unite  to  form  a  gray  midway  between  them.  Thus 
N^  and  N^  being  equally  above  and  below  the  centre,  unite  to  form 


MIXTURE   &   BALANCE 


41 


Vertical  Section  through  light  openinga. 

PARTS. 

C,  Cabinet,  with  sample-holder  (H)  and  mirror  (M),  which  may  be  removed  and  stored 

to  left  of  dial  (D)  when  instrument  is  closed  for  transportation. 

D,  Dial:   records  color  values  in  terms  of  standard  white  (100),  the  opposite  end  of  the 

scale  being  absolute  blackness  (o). 

E,  Eye-piece:  to  shield  eye  and  sample  from  extraneous  light  while  color  determinations 

are  being  made»     Fatigue  of  retina  should  be  avoided. 
<?,  Gear:   actuates  cat's-eye  shutter,  which  controls  amount  of  hght  admitted  to  right  half 

of  instrument.     Its  shaft  carries  index-hand  over  dial. 
H,  Field-Holder:    retains  sample  and  standard  white  in  same  plane,  and  isolates  them. 

Is  hinged  upon  lower  edge,  and  secured  by  pivot  clamp. 
M,  Mirror:    permits  observation  of  the  isciated  halves  of  the  holder,  bearing  standard 

white  and  the  color  to  be  measured.     Should  be  clean  and  free  from  dust  on  both 

sides  of  central  partition. 
St  Diffusing  Screen,  placed  over  front  apertures,  to  evenly  distribute  the  hght. 


N^  as  will  also  W  and  N^,  N^  and  N^,  or  N^  and  N^.  But  N» 
and  N^  will  unite  to  form  N^,  which  is  midway  between  3  and  9. 
(66)  When  this  numbered  scale  of  values  is  famiHar,  it  serves 
not  only  to  describe  Ught  and  dark  grays,  but  the  value  of  colors 
which  are  at  the  same  level  in  the  scale.  Thus  R^  (popularly 
called  a  tint  of  red)  is  neither  lighter  nor  darker  than  the  gray  of 
N"^.  A  numeral  written  above  to  the  right  always  indicates  value, 
whether  of  a  gray  or  a  color,  so  that  R^  R^,  R^,  R^,  R^,  R^,  R^, 
R^,  R^,  describes  a  regular  scale  of  red  values  from  black  to  white, 
while  GS  Gr^,  G^,  etc.,  is  a  scale  of  green  values. 


42  MIXTURE   &   BALANCE 

(67)  This  matter  of  a  notation  for  colors  will  be  more  fully 
worked  out  in  Chapter  VI.,  but  the  letters  and  numerals  already 
described  greatly  simplify  what  we  are  about  to  consider  in  the 
mixture  and  balance  of  colors. 

Mixture  of  light  hues  with  dark  hues. 

(68)  Now  that  we  are  supplied  with  a  decimal  scale  of  grays, 
represented  by  divisions  of  the  neutral  axis  (N^,  N^,  etc.),  and 

a  corresponding  decimal  scale  of  value  for  each 
of  the  ten  hues  ranged  about  the  equator  (R-^, 
R2,— YRi,  YR2,— Yi,  Y2,— GYi,  GY^ — 
and  so  on),  traced  by  ten  equidistant  meridians 
from  black  to  white,  it  is  not  difficult  to  fore- 
see what  the  mixture  of  any  two  colors  will 
produce,  whether  they  are  of  the  same  level 
of  value,  as  in  the  colors  of  the  equator  already 
considered,  or  whether  they  are  of  different  levels. 

(69)  For  instance,  let  us  mix  a  light  yellow  (Y"^)  with  a  dark 
red  (R^).  They  are  neighbors  in  hue,  but  well  removed  in  value. 
A  line  joining  them  centres  at  YR^.  This  describes  the  result  of 
their  mixture, — a  value  intermediate  between  7  and  3,  with  a 
hue  intermediate  between  R  and  Y.  It  is  a  yellow-red  of  middle 
value,  popularly  called  "dark  orange."  But,  v/hile  this  term 
"dark  orange"  rarely  means  the  same  color  to  three  different 
people,  these  measured  scales  give  to  YR^  an  unmistakable  mean- 
ing, just  as  the  musical  scale  gives  an  unmistakable  significance 
to  the  notes  of  its  score. 

(70)  Evidently,  this  way  of  writing  colors  by  their  degrees  of 
value  and  hue  gives  clearness  to  what  would  otherwise  be  hard  to 
express  by  the  color  terms  in  common  use. 

(71)  If  Y^  and  R^  be  chosen  for  mixture,  we  know  at  once  that 


MIXTURE   &   BALANCE 


43 


they  unite  in  YR'^,  which  is  two  steps  of  the  value  scale  above 
the  middle;  while  Y^  and  R^  make  YR^,  which  is  one  step  below 
the  middle.  Charts  prepared  with  this  system  show  each  of  these 
colors  and  their  mixture  with  exactness. 

(72)  The  foregoing  mixtures  of  dark  reds  and  Kght  yellows  are 
typical  of  the  union  of  light  and  dark  values  of  any  neighboring 
hues,  such  as  yellow  and  green,  green  and  blue,  blue  and  purple, 
or  purple  and  red.  Next  let  us  think  of  the  result  of  mixing  dif- 
ferent values  in  opposite  hues;  as,  for  instance,  YR^  and  B^ 
(Fig.  11).  To  this  combination  the  color  sphere  gives  a  ready 
answer;  for  the  middle  of  a  straight  line  through  the  sphere,  and 
joining  them,  coincides  with  the  neutral  centre,  showing  that  they 

balance  in  neutral  gray.  This  is  also  true 
of  any  opposite  pair  of  surface  hues  where 
the  values  are  equally  removed  from  the 
equator. 

(73)  Suppose  we  substitute  familiar 
flowers  for  the  notation,  then  YR  "^  becomes 
the  buttercup,  and  B^  is  the  wild  violet. 
But,  in  comparing  the  two,  the  eye  is  more 
stimulated  by  the  buttercup  than  by  the  violet,  not  alone  be- 
cause it  is  lighter,  but  because  it  is  stronger  in  chroma;  that  is, 
farther  away  from  the  neutral  axis  of  the  sphere,  and  in  fact  out 
beyond  its  surface,  as  shown  in  Fig.  11. 

The  head  of  a  pin  stuck  in  toward  the  axis  on  the  7th 
level  of  YR  may  represent  the  9th  step  in  the  scale  of  chroma, 
such  as  the  buttercup,  while  the  "modest"  violet  with  a  chroma 
of  only  4,  is  shown  by  its  position  to  be  nearer  the  neutral  axis 
than  the  brilliant  buttercup  by  five  steps  of  chroma.  This  is  the 
third  dimension  of  color,  and  must  be  included  in  our  notatioii 


44  MIXTURE    &    BALANCE 

So  we  write  the  buttercup  YR|^  and  the  violet  BJ, — chroma  al- 
ways being  written  below  to  the  right  of  hue,  and  value  always 

VALUE 

above.     (This  is  the  invariable  order :  hue 


CHROMA 

(74)  A  line  joining  the  head  of  the  pin  mentioned  above  with 
Bf  does  not  pass  through  the  centre  of  the  sphere,  and  its  middle 
point  is  nearer  the  buttercup  than  the  neutral  axis,  showing  that 
the  hues  of  the  buttercup  and  violet  do  not  balance  in  gray. 

The  neutral  centre  is  a  balancing  point  for  colors. 

(75)  This  raises  the  question.  What  is  balance  of  color?  Ar- 
tists criticise  the  color  schemes  of  paintings  as  being  "too  light 
or  too  dark"  (unbalanced  in  value),  "too  weak  or  too  strong" 
(unbalanced  in  chroma),  and  "too  hot  or  too  cold"  (unbalanced 
in  hue),  showing  that  this  is  a  fundamental  idea  underlying  all 
color  arrangements. 

(76)  Let  us  assume  that  the  centre  of  the  sphere  is  the  natural 
balancing  point  for  all  colors  (which  will  be  best  shown  by  Max- 
well discs  in  Chapter  V.,  paragraphs  106-112),  then  color  points 
equally  removed  from  the  centre  must  balance  one  another.  Thus 
white  balances  black.  Lighter  red  balances  darker  blue-green. 
Middle  red  balances  middle  blue-green.  In  short,  every  straight 
line  through  this  centre  indicates  opposite  qualities  that  balance 
one  another.  The  color  points  so  found  are  said  to  be  '' com- 
j)lementary/*  for  each  suppHes  what  is  needed  to  complement 
or  balance  the  other  in  hue,  value,  and  chroma. 

(77)  The  true  complement  of  the  buttercup,  then,  is  not  the 
violet,  which  is  too  weak  in  chroma  to  balance  its  strong  opposite. 
We  have  no  blue  flower  that  can  equal  the  chroma  of  the  butter- 
cup. Some  other  means  must  be  found  to  produce  a  balance. 
One  way  is  to  use  more  of  the  weaker  color.    Thus  we  can  make 


MIXTURE    &    BALANCE  45 

a  bunch  of  buttercups  and  violets,  using  twice  as  many  of  the 
latter,  so  that  the  eye  sees  an  area  of  blue  twice  as  great  as  the 
area  of  yellow -red.  Area  as  a  compensation  for  inequalities  of 
hue,  value,  and  chroma  will  be  further  described  under  the  har- 
mony of  color  in  Chapter  VII. 

(78)  But,  before  leaving  this  illustration  of  the  buttercup  and 
violet,  it  is  well  to  consider  another  color  path  connecting  them 
which  does  not  pass  through  the  sphere,  but  around  it  (Fig.  12). 
Such  a  path  swinging  around  from  yellow -red  to  blue  slants  down- 
ward in  value,  and  passes  through  yellow,  green-yellow,  green, 
and  blue-green,  tracing  a  sequence  oj  hue,  of  which  each  step  is 
less  chromatic  than  its  predecessor. 

This  diminishing  sequence  is  easily  written  thus, — Yf,  GY|, 
G|,  BGf ,  Bf,  PBf , — and  is  shown  graphically  in  Fig.  12.     Its 

hue  sequence  is  described  by  the  initials 
Y,  GY,  G,  BG,  B,  and  PB|.  Its 
value-sequence  appears  in  the  upper 
numerals,  8,  7,  6,  5,  4,  and  3,  while 
the  chroma-sequence  is  included  in  the 
lower  numerals,  7,  6,  5,  4,  3,  and  2. 
This  gives  a  complete  statement  of 
the  sequence,  defining  its  peculiarity,  that  at  each  change 
of  hue  there  is  a  regular  decrease  of  value  and  chroma.  Nature 
seems  to  be  partial  to  this  sequence,  constantly  reiterating  it  in 
yellow  flowers  with  their  darker  green  leaves  and  underlying 
shadows.  In  spring  time  she  may  contract  its  range,  making  the 
blue  more  green  and  the  yellow  less  red,  but  in  autumn  she  seems 
to  widen  the  range,  presenting  strong  contrasts  of  yellow-red 
and  purple-blue. 

(79)  Every  day  she  plays  upon  the  values  of  this  sequence, 


46  MIXTURE    &   BALANCE 

from  the  strong  contrasts  of  light  and  shadow  at  noon  to  the  hardly- 
perceptible  differences  at  twilight.  The  chroma  of  this  sequence 
expands  during  the  summer  to  strong  colors,  and  contracts  in 
winter  to  grays.  Indeed,  Nature,  who  would  seem  to  be  the 
source  of  our  notions  of  color  harmony,  rarely  repeats  herself,  yet 
is  endlessly  balancing  inequalities  of  hue,  value,  and  chroma  by 
compensations  of  quantity. 

(80)  So  subtle  is  this  equilibrium  that  it  is  taken  for  granted 
and  forgotten,  except  when  some  violent  disturbance  disarranges 
it,  such  as  an  earthquake  or  a  thunder-storm. 

The  triple  natiire  of  color  balance  illustrated. 

(81)  The  simplest  idea  of  balance  is  the  equilibrium  of  two 
halves  of  a  stick  supported  at  its  middle  point.  If  one  end  is 
heavier  than  the  other,  the  support  must  be  moved  nearer  to  that 
end. 

But,  since  color  unites  three  qualities,  we  must  seek  some  type 
of  tri'ple  balance.  The  game  of  jackstraws  illustrates  this,  when 
the  disturbance  of  one  piece  involves  the  displacement  of  two 
others.  The  action  of  three  children  on  a  floating  plank  or  the 
equilibrium  of  two  acrobats  carried  on  the  shoulders  of  a  third 
may  also  serve  as  examples. 

(82)  Triple  balance  may  be  graphically  shown  by  three  discs 

in   contact.      Two    of   them    are   suspended   by 
^  their  centres,  while  they  remain  in  touch  with 

^^Jg^^^^  a  third  supported  on  a  pivot,  as  in  Fig.  14. 
Let  us  call  the  lowest  disc  Hue  (H),  and  the 
lateral  discs  Value  (V)  and  Chroma  (C). 
Any  dip  or  rotation  of  the  lower  disc  H  will 
'^5- 14:  induce  sympathetic  action  in  the  two  lateral 
discs  V  and  C.     When  H  is  inclined,  both  V 


MIXTURE   &  BALANCE  47 

and  C  change  their  relations  to  it.  If  H  is  raised  vertically,  both 
V  and  C  dip  outward.  If  H  is  rotated,  both  V  and  C  rotate, 
but  in  opposite  directions.  Indeed,  any  disturbance  of  V  affects 
H  and  C,  while  H  and  V  respond  to  any  movement  of  C.  So  we 
must  be  prepared  to  realize  that  any  change  of  one  color  quality 
involves  readjustment  of  the  other  two. 

(83)  Color  balance  soon  leads  to  a  study  of  optics  in  one  direc- 
tion, to  aesthetics  in  another,  and  to  mathematical  proportions  in 
a  third,  and  any  attempt  at  an  easy  solution  of  its  problems  is  not 
hkely  to  succeed.  It  is  a  very  compHcated  question,  whose  closest 
counterpart  is  to  be  sought  in  musical  rhythms.  The  fall  of 
musical  impulses  upon  the  ear  can  make  us  gay  or  sad,  and  there 
are  color  groups  which,  acting  through  the  eye,  can  convey  pleas- 
ure or  pain  to  the  mind. 

(84)  A  colorist  is  keenly  alive  to  these  feehngs  of  satisfaction 
or  annoyance,  and  consciously  or  unconsciously  he  rejects  certain 
combinations  of  color  and  accepts  others.  Successful  pictures 
and  decorative  schemes  are  due  to  some  sort  of  balance  uniting 
"light  and  shade"  (value),  "warmth  and  coolness"  (hue),  with 
"brilliancy  and  grayness"  (chroma);  for,  when  they  fail  to  please, 
the  mind  at  once  begins  to  search  for  the  unbalanced  quality,  and 
complains  that  the  color  is  "too  hot,"  "too  dark,"  or  "too  crude." 
This  effort  to  establish  pleasing  proportions  may  be  unconscious 
in  one  temperament,  while  it  becomes  a  matter  of  definite  analysis 
in  another.  Emerson  claimed  that  the  unconscious  only  is  com- 
plete. We  gladly  permit  those  whose  color  instinct  is  unerring — 
(and  how  few  they  are!) — to  neglect  all  rules  and  set  formulas. 
But  education  is  concerned  with  the  many  who  have  not  this  gift. 

(85)  Any  real  progress  in  color  education  must  come  not  from 
a  blind  imitation  of  past  successes,  but  by  a  study  into  the  laws 


48  MIXTURE   &   BALANCE 

which  they  exemplify.  To  exactly  copy  fine  Japanese  prints  or 
Persian  rugs  or  Renaissance  tapestries,  while  it  cultivates  an  ap- 
preciation of  their  refinements,  does  not  give  one  the  power  to 
create  things  equally  beautiful.  The  masterpieces  of  music  cor- 
rectly rendered  do  not  of  necessity  make  a  composer.  The  musi- 
cian, besides  the  study  of  masterpieces,  absorbs  the  science  of 
counterpoint,  and  records  by  an  unmistakable  notation  the  exact 
character  of  any  new  combination  of  musical  intervals  which  he 
conceives. 

(86)  So  must  the  art  of  the  colorist  be  furnished  with  a  scien- 
tific basis  and  a  clear  form  of  color  notation.  This  will  record 
the  successes  and  failures  of  the  past,  and  aid  in  a  search,  by 
contrast  and  analysis,  for  the  fundamentals  of  color  balance. 
Without  a  measured  and  systematic  notation,  attempts  to  de- 
scribe color  harmony  only  produce  hazy  generahties  of  little  value 
in  describing  our  sensations,  and  fail  to  express  the  essential 
differences  between  "good"  and  "bad"  color. 


Appendix  to  Chapter  III. 


Yftl^Xwr 


False  Color  Balance.  There  is  a  widely  accepted  error 
that  red,  yellow,  and  blue  are  "primary,*' 
although  Brewster's  theory  was  long  ago 
dropped  when  the  elements  of  color  vision 
proved  to  be  red,  green,  and  violet-blue. 
The  late  Professor  Rood  called  attention  to 
this  in  Chapters  VIII.-XI.  of  his  book, 
"Modern  Chromatics,"  which  appeared  in 
1879.  Yet  we  find  it  very  generally  taught 
in  school.  Nor  does  the  harm  end  there, 
folet-   for  placing  red,  yellow,   and  blue  equidis- 


T^a: 


tant  in  a  circle,  with  orange,  green,  and 
purple  as  intermediates,  the  teacher  goes  on  to  state  that  opposite 
hues  are  complementary. 

Red  is  thus  made  the  complement  of  Green, 
Yellow  "  "  Purple,  and 

*Blue  "  "  Orange. 

Unfortunately,  each  of  these  statements  is  wrong,  and,  if  tested 
by  the  mixture  of  colored  lights  or  with  Maxwell's  rotating  discs, 
their  falsity  is  evident. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  green  is  not  the  complement  of 
red,  nor  purple  of  yellow,  nor  orange  of  blue,  for  neither  one  of 
these  pairs  unites  as  it  should  in  a  balanced  neutrality,  and  a  total 
test  of  the  circle  gives  great  excess  of  orange,  showing  that  red 

*  Ultramarine,  the  pigment  often  selected  as  a  t3T)ical  blue,  has  a  violet  or  purple  quality 
which  makes  it  the  complement  of  yellow,  not  of  orange.  Typical  blue  should  contain  no 
hint  of  violet  or  purple,  and  is  best  represented  by  Cerulean  (cyan-blue) ,  which  is  the  true 
complement  of  yellow-red.    See  charts  B  and  Y  of  the  Color  Atlas. 


50  MIXTURE    &  BALANCE 


and  yellow  usurp  too  great  a  portion  of  the  circumference.  Start- 
ing from  a  false  basis,  the  Brewster  theory  can  only  lead  to  un- 
balanced and  inharmonious  effects  of  color. 

The  fundamental  color  sensations  are  red,  green,  and  violet- 
blue. 

Red  has  for  its  true  complement  blue-green, 
Green  "  "  red-purple,  and 

Violet-blue       "  "  yellow, 

all  of  the  hues  in  the  right-hand  column  being  compound  sensa- 
tions. The  sensation  of  green  is  not  due  to  a  mixture  of  yellow 
and  blue,  as  the  absorptive  action  of  pigments  might  lead  one  to 
think:  green  is  fundamental,  and  not  made  by  mixing  any 
hues  of  the  spectrum,  while  yellow  is  not  fundamental,  but 
caused  by  the  mingled  sensations  of  red  and  green.  This  is  easily 
proved  by  a  controlled  spectrum,  for  all  yellow-reds,  yellows,  and 
green-yellows  can  be  matched  by  certain  proportions  of  red  and 
green  light,  all  blue-greens,  blues,  and  purple-blues  can  be  ob- 
tained by  the  union  of  green  and  violet  light,  while  purple-blue, 
purple,  and  red-purple  result  from  the  union  of  violet  and  red 
light.  But  there  is  no  point  where  a  mixture  gives  red,  green, 
or  violet-blue.  They  are  the  true  primaries,  whose  mixtures 
produce  all  other  hues. 

Studio  and  school-room  practice  still  cling  to  the  discredited 
theory,  claiming  that,  if  it  fails  to  describe  our  color  sensations, 
yet  it  may  be  called  practically  true  of  pigments,  because  a  red, 
yellow,  and  blue  pigment  suffice  to  imitate  most  natural  colors. 
This  discrepancy  between  pigment  mixture  and  retinal  mixture 
becomes  clear  as  soon  as  one  learns  the  physical  make-up  and 
behavior  of  paints. 


MIXTURE   &    BALANCE 


51 


r— 


Spectral  analysis  shows  that  no  pigment  is  a  pure  example  of 
the  dominant  hue  which  it  sends  to  the  eye.  Take,  for  example, 
the  very  chromatic  pigments  representing  red 
and  green,  such  as  vermilion  and  emerald 
green.  If  each  emitted  a  single  pure  hue  free 
from  trace  of  any  other  hue,  then  their  mixture 
would  appear  yellow,  as  when  spectral  red 
and  green  unite.  But,  instead  of  yellow, 
their  mixture  produces  a  warm  gray,  called 
brown  or  "dull  salmon,"  and  this  is  to  be 
inferred  from  their  spectra,  where  it  is  seen  that 
vermilion  emits  some  green  and  purple  as 
well  as  its  dominant  color,  while  the  green  also 
sends  some  blue  and  red  light  to  the  eye.* 

Thus  stray  hues  from  other  parts  of  the  spectrum  tend  to  neu- 
tralize the  yellow  sensation,  which  would  be  strong  if  each  of  the 
pigments  were  pure  in  the  spectral  sense.  Pigment  absorption 
affects  all  palette  mixtures,  and,  failing  to  obtain  a  satisfactory 
yellow  by  mixture  of  red  and  green,  painters  use  original  yellow 
pigments, — ^such  as  aureolin,  cadmium,  and  lead  chromate, — 
each  of  them  also  impure  but  giving  a  dominant  sensation  of  yel- 
low. Did  the  eye  discriminate,  as  does  the  ear  when  it  analyzes 
the  separate  tones  of  a  chord,  then  we  should  recognize  that  yel- 
low pigments  emit  both  red  and  green  rays. 

White  light  dispersed  into  a  colored  band  by  one  prism,  may 
have  the  process  reversed  by  a  second  prism,  so  that  the  eye 
sees  again  only  white  light.  But  this  would  not  be  so,  did  not  the 
balance  of  red,  green,  and  violet-blue  sensations  remain  undis- 
turbed. All  our  ideas  of  color  harmony  are  based  upon  this  funda- 
mental relation,  and,  if  pigments  are  to  render  harmonious  effects, 

*  See  Rood,  Chapter  VII-i  oh  Color  by  Absorption. 


52  MIXTURE   &    BALANCE 

we  must  learn  to  control  their  impurities  so  as  to  preserve  a  bal- 
ance of  red,  green,  and  violet-blue. 

Otherwise,  the  excessive  chroma  and  value  of  red  and  yellow 
pigments  so  over\\^helm  the  lesser  degrees  of  green  and  blue  pig- 
ments that  no  balance  is  possible,  and  the  colorist  of  fine  per- 
ception must  reject  not  alone  the  theoretical,  but  also  the  prac- 
tical outcome  of  a  "  red-yellow -blue  "  theory. 

Some  of  the  points  raised  in  this  discussion  are  rather  subtle 
for  students,  and  may  well  be  left  until  they  arise  in  a  study 
of  optics,  but  the  teacher  should  grasp  them  clearly,  so  as  not 
to  be  led  into  false  statements  about  primary  and  complementary 
hues. 


Chapter  TV. 


PRISMATIC   COLOR. 

Pure  color  is  seen  in  the  spectrum  of  sunlight. 

(87)  The  strongest  sensation  of  color  is  gained  in  a  darkened 
room,  with  a  prism  used  to  split  a  beam  of  sunlight  into  its  vari- 
ous wave  lengths.  Through  a  narrow  sHt 
there  enters  a  straight  pencil  of  hght 
which  we  are  accustomed  to  think  of  as 
whitey  although  it  is  a  bundle  of  variously 
colored  rays  (or  waves  of  ether)  whose 
union  and  balance  is  so  perfect  that  no 
single  ray  predominates. 

(88)  Cover  the  narrow  slit,  and  we  are 
plunged  in  darkness.  Admit  the  beam, 
and  the  eye  feels  a  powerful  contrast  between  the  spot  of  hght 
on  the  floor  and  its  surrounding  darkness.  Place  a  triangular 
glass  prism  near  the  slit  to  intercept  the  beam  of  white  light,  and 
suddenly  there  appears  on  the  opposite  wall  a  band  of  brilliant 
colors.  This  delightful  experiment  rivets  the  eye  by  the  beauty 
and  purity  of  its  hues.  All  other  colors  seem  weak  by  com- 
parison. Their  weakness  is  due  to  impurity,  for  all  pigments 
and  dyes  reflect  portions  of  hues  other  than  their  dominant  one, 
which  tend  to  "gray"  and  diminish  their  chroma. 

(89)  But  prismatic  color  is  pure,  or  very  nearly  so,  because  the 
shape  of  the  glass  refracts  each  hue,  and  separates  it  by  the  length 


54  PRISMATIC    COLOR 

of  its  ether  wave.  These  waves  have  been  measured,  and  science 
can  name  each  hue  by  its  wave  length.  Thus  a  certain  red  is 
known  as  M.  6867,  and  a  certain  green  sensation  is  M.  5269.* 
Without  attempting  any  scientific  analysis  of  color,  let  it  be  said 
that  Sir  Isaac  Newton  made  his  series  of  experiments  in  1687,  and 
was  privileged  to  name  this  color  sequence  by  seven  steps  which 
he  caUed  red,  orange,  yellow,  green,  blue,  violet,  and  indigo. 
Later  a  scientist  named  Fraunhofer  discovered  fine  black  lines 
crossing  the  solar  spectrum,  and  marked  them  with  letters  of  the 
alphabet  from  a  to  h.  These  with  the  w  ave  length  serve  to  locate 
every  hue  and  define  every  step  in  the  sequence.  Since  Newton's 
time  it  has  been  proved  that  only  three  of  the  spectral  hues  are 
primary;  viz.,  a  red,  a  green,  and  a  violet-blue,  while  their  mixture 
produces  all  other  gradations.  By  receiving  the  spectrum  on  an 
opaque  screen  with  fine  slits  that  fit  the  red  and  green  waves,  so 
that  they  alone  pass  through,  these  two  primary  hues  can  be  re- 
ceived on  mirrors  inclined  at  such  an  angle  as  to  unite  on  another 
screen,  where,  instead  of  red  or  green,  the  eye  sees  only  yellow. f 
(90)  A  similar  arrangement  of  slits  and  mirrors  for  the  green 
and  violet-blue  proves  that  they  unite  to  make  blue,  while  a  third 
experiment  shows  that  the  red  and  violet-blue  can  unite  to  make 
purple.     So  yellow,  blue-green,  and  purple  are  called  secondary 

*  See  Micron  in  Glossary. 

f  The  fact  that  the  spectral  union  of  red  and  green  makes  yellow  is  a  matter  of  stir- 
prise  to  practical  workers  in  color  who  are  familiar  with  the  action  of  pigments,  but  un- 
familiar with  spectrum  analysis.  Yellow  seems  to  them  a  primary  and  indispensable  color, 
because  it  cannot  be  made  by  the  union  of  red  and  green  pigments.  Another  sm-prise  is 
awaiting  them  when  they  hear  that  the  yellow  and  blue  of  the  spectrum  make  white,  for 
all  their  experience  with  paints  goes  to  prove  that  yellow  and  blue  unite  to  form  green. 
Attention  is  called  to  this  difference  between  the  mixture  of  colored  light  and  of  colored 
pigments,  not  with  the  idea  of  explaining  it  here,  but  to  emphasize  their  difference;  for  in 
the  next  chapter  we  shall  describe  the  practical  making  of  a  color  sphere  with  pigments, 
which  would  be  quite  impractical,  could  we  have  only  the  colors  of  the  spectrum  to  work 
with.     See  Appendix  to  preceding  chapter. 


PRISMATIC    COLOR  55 

hues  because  they  result  from  the  mixture  of  the  three  primaries, 
red,  green,  and  violet-blue. 

In  comparing  these  two  color  lists,  we  see  that  the  "indigo" 
and  "orange"  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton  have  been  discarded.  Both 
are  indefinite,  and  refer  to  variable  products  of  the  vegetable  king- 
dom. Violet  is  also  borrowed  from  the  same  kingdom;  and,  in 
order  to  describe  a  violet,  we  say  it  is  a  purple  violet  or  blue  violet, 
as  the  case  may  be,  just  as  we  describe  an  orange  as  a  red  orange 
or  a  yellow  orange.  Their  color  difference  is  not  expressed  by 
the  terms  "orange"  or  "violet,"  but  by  the  words  "red," 
"yellow,"  "blue,"  or  "purple,"  all  of  which  are  true  color  names 
and  arouse  an  unmixed  color  image. 

(91)  In  the  nursery  a  child  learns  to  use  the  simple  color 
names  red,  yellow,  green,  blue,  and  purple.  When  familiarity 
with  the  color  sphere  makes  him  relate  them  to  each  other  and 
place  them  between  black  and  white  by  their  degree  of  light  and 
strength,  there  will  be  no  occasion  to  revert  to  vegetables,  ani- 
mals, minerals,  or  the  ever-varying  hues  of  sea  and  sky  to  express 
his  color  sensations. 

(92)  Another  experiment  accentuates  the  difference  between 
spectral  and  pigment  color.  When  the  spectrum  is  spread  on  the 
screen  by  the  use  of  a  prism,  and  a  second  prism  is  placed  inverted 
beyond  the  first,  it  regathers  the  dispersed  rays  back  into  their 
original  beam,  making  a  white  spot  on  the  floor.  This  proves 
that  all  the  colored  rays  of  light  combine  to  balance  each  other 
in  whiteness.  But  if  pigments  which  are  the  closest  possible 
imitation  of  these  hues  are  united  on  a  painter's  palette,  either 
by  the  brush  or  the  knife,  they  make  gray,  and  not  white. 

(93)  This  is  another  illustration  of  the  behavior  of  pigments, 
for,  instead  of  uniting  to  form  white,  they  form  gray,  which  is  a 


56  PRISMATIC    COLOR 

darkened  or  impure  form  of  white;  and,  lest  this  should  be  at- 
tributed to  a  chemical  reaction  between  the  various  matters  that 
serve  as  pigments,  the  experiment  can  be  carried  out  without  al- 
lowing one  pigment  to  touch  another  by  using  Maxwell  discs,  as 
will  be  shown  in  the  next  chapter. 

(94)  Before  leaving  these  prismatic  colors,  let  us  study  them  in 
the  light  of  what  has  already  been  learned  of  color  dimensions. 

Not  only  do  they  present  different  values, 

,^^j^^  but  also   different   chromas.     Their  values 

^^^  i  ^  j^^^         range  from  darkness  at  each  end,  where  red 

§1       ^^>^^  ^^^  purple  become  visible,  to  a  brightness  in 

^^.^^^ff  /   if/  the  greenish  yellow,  which  is  almost  white. 

^'^^^fe^^^  !y  So  on  the  color  tree  described  in  Chapter  II., 

V,  ,^^^  ^"^'  ^^      paragraph  34,  yellow  has  the  highest  branch, 

green  is  lower,  red  is  below  the  middle,  with 

blue  and  purple  lower  down,  near  black. 

(95)  Then  in  chroma  they  range  from  the  powerful  stimulation 
of  the  red  to  the  soothing  purple,  with  green  occupying  an  inter- 
mediate step.  This  is  also  given  on  the  color  tree  by  the  length 
of  its  branches. 

(96)  In  Fig.  15  the  vertical  curve  describes  the  values  of  the 
spectrum  as  they  grade  from  red  through  yellow,  green,  blue,  and 
purple.  The  horizontal  curve  describes  the  chromas  of  the  spec- 
trum in  the  same  sequence ;  while  the  third  curve  leaning  outward 
is  obtained  by  uniting  the  first  two  by  two  planes  at  right  angles 
to  one  another,  and  sums  up  the  three  qualities  by  a  single  descrip- 
tive line.  Now  the  red  and  purple  ends  are  far  apart,  and  science 
forbids  their  junction  because  of  their  great  difference  in  wave 
lentyth.  But  the  mind  is  prone  to  unite  them  in  order  to  produce 
the  red-purples  which  we  see  in  clouds  at  sunset,  in  flowers  and 


PRISMATIC    COLOR  57 

grapes  and  the  amethyst.  Indeed,  it  has  been  done  unhesitat- 
ingly in  most  color  schemes  in  order  to  supply  the  opposite  of 
green. 

(97)  This  gives  a  slanting  circuit  joining  all  the  branch  ends  of 
the  color  tree,  and  has  been  likened  to  the  rings  of  Saturn  in  Chap- 
ter I.,  paragraph  17. 

A  prismatic  color  sphere. 

(98)  With  a  little  effort  of  the  imagination  we  can  picture  a 
prismatic  color  sphere,  using  only  the  colors  of  light.  In  a  cylin- 
drical chamber  is  hung  a  diaphanous  ball  similar  to  a  huge 
soap  bubble,  which  can  display  color  on  its  surface  without  ob- 
scuring its  interior.  Then,  at  the  proper  points  of  the  surround- 
ing wall,  three  pure  beams  of  colored  light  are  admitted, — one 
red,  another  green,  and  the  third  \dolet-blue. 

(99)  They  fall  at  proper  levels  on  three  sides  of  the  sphere, 
while  their  intermediate  gradations  encircle  the  sphere  with  a 
complete  spectrum  plus  the  needed  purple.  As  they  penetrate 
the  sphere,  they  unite  to  balance  each  other  in  neutrality.  Pure 
whiteness  is  at  the  top,  and,  by  some  imaginary  means  their  light 
gradually  diminishes  until  they  disappear  in  darkness  below. 

(100)  This  ideal  color  system  is  impossible  in  the  present  state 
of  our  knowledge  and  implements.  Even  were  it  possible,  its 
immaterial  hues  could  not  serve  to  dye  materials  or  paint  pict- 
ures. Pigments  are,  and  will  in  all  probability  continue  to  be, 
the  practical  agents  of  coloristic  productions,  however  reluctant 
the  scientist  may  be  to  accept  them  as  the  basis  of  a  color  system. 
It  is  true  that  they  are  chemically  impure  and  imperfectly  represent 
the  colors  of  Hght.  Some  of  them  fade  rapidly  and  undergo 
chemical  change,  as  in  the  notable  case  of  a  green  pigment  tested 


58  PRISMATIC      COLOR 

by  this  measured  system,  which  in  a  few  weeks  lost  four  steps  of 
chroma,  gained  two  steps  of  value,  and  swung  into  a  bluer  hue. 

(101)  But  the  color  sphere  to  be  next  described  is  worked  out 
with  a  few  reliable  pigments,  mostly  natural  earths,  whose  fading 
is  a  matter  of  years  and  so  slight  as  to  be  almost  imperceptible. 
Besides,  its  principal  hues  are  preserved  in  safe  keeping  by  im- 
perishable enamels,  which  can  be  used  to  correct  any  tendency  of 
the  pigments  to  distort  the  measured  intervals  of  the  color  sphere. 

This  meets  the  most  serious  objection  to  a  pigment  system. 
Without  it  a  child  has  nothing  tangible  which  he  can  keep  in 
constant  view  to  imitate  and  memorize.  With  it  he  builds  up  a 
mental  image  of  measured  relations  that  describe  every  color  in 
nature,  including  the  fleeting  hues  of  the  rainbow,  although  they 
appear  but  for  a  moment  at  rare  intervals.  Finally,  it  furnishes  a 
simple  notation  which  records  every  color  sensation  by  letters 
and  numerals.  With  the  enlargement  of  his  mental  power  he 
will  unite  these  in  a  comprehensive  grasp  of  the  larger  relations 
of  color. 


Appendix  to  Chapter  IV. 
Children's  Color  Studies. 

These  reproductions  of  children's  work  are  given  as  proof  that 
color  charm  and  good  taste  may  be  cultivated  from  the  start. 

Five  Middle  Hues  are  first  taught  by  the  use  of  special  crayons, 
and  later  with  water  colors.  They  represent  the  equator  of  the 
color  sphere  (see  Plate  I.), — a  circle  midway  between  the  extremes 
of  color-light  and  color-strength, — and  are  known  as  Middle  Red, 
Middle  Yellow,  Middle  Green,  Middle  Blue,  and  Middle 
Purple. 

These  are  starting-points  for  training  the  eye  to  measure  regular 
scales  of  Value  and  Chroma.*  Only  with  such  a  trained  judgment 
is  it  safe  to  undertake  the  use  of  strong  colors. f 

Beginners  should  avoid  Strong  Color.  Extreme  red,  yellow,  and 
blue  are  discordant.  (They  "  shriek"  and  "  swear."  Mark  Twain 
calls  Roxana's  gown  "a  volcanic  eruption  of  infernal  splendors.") 
Yet  there  are  some  who  claim  that  the  child  craves  them,  and  must 
have  them  to  produce  a  thrill.  So  also  does  he  crave  candies, 
matches,  and  the  carving-knife.  He  covets  the  trumpet,  fire-gong, 
and  bass-drum  for  their  "  thrill" ;  but  who  would  think  them  neces- 

*  See  Century  Dictionary  for  definition  of  chroma.  Under  the  word  "color"  will  be 
found  definitions  of  Primary,  Complementary,  Constants  (chroma,  luminosity,  and  hue), 
and  the  Young-Helmholtz  theory  of  color- sensation. 

t  It  must  not  be  assumed  because  so  much  stress  is  laid  upon  quiet  and  harmonious 
color  that  this  system  excludes  the  more  powerful  degrees.  To  do  so  would  forfeit  its  claim 
to  completeness.  A  Color  Atlas  displays  all  known  degrees  of  pigment  color  arranged  in 
measured  scales  of  Hue,  Value,  and  Chroma. 


60  PRISMATIC    COLOR 

sary  to  the  musical  training  of  the  ear  ?  Like  the  blazing  bill-board 
and  the  circus  wagon,  they  may  be  suffered  out-of-doors ;  but  such 
boisterous  sounds  and  color  sprees  are  unfit  for  the  school-room. 

Quiet  Color  is  the  Mark  of  Good  Taste.  Refinement  in  dress  and 
the  furnishings  of  the  home  is  attractive,  but  we  shrink  from  those 
who  are  "loud"  in  their  speech  or  their  clothing.  If  we  wish  our 
children  to  become  well-bred,  is  it  logical  to  begin  by  encouraging 
barbarous  tastes  ?  Their  young  minds  are  very  open  to  suggestion. 
They  quickly  adopt  our  standards,  and  the  blame  must  fall  upon 
us  if  they  acquire  crude  color  habits.  Yellow  journalism  and  rag- 
time tunes  will  not  help  their  taste  in  speech  or  song,  nor  will  vio- 
lent hues  improve  their  taste  in  matters  of  color. 

Balance  of  Color  is  to  he  sought.  Artists  and  decorators  are  well 
aware  of  a  fact  that  slowly  dawns  upon  the  student;  namely,  that 
color  harmony  is  due  to  the  preservation  of  a  subtle  balance  and 
impossible  by  the  use  of  extremes.  This  balance  of  color  resides 
more  within  the  spherical  surface  of  this  system  than  in  the  exces- 
sive chromas  which  project  beyond.  It  is  futile  to  encourage  chil- 
dren in  efforts  to  rival  the  poppy  or  buttercup,  even  with  the  strong- 
est pigments  obtainable.  Their  sunlit  points  give  pleasure  because 
they  are  surrounded  and  balanced  by  blue  ether  and  wide  green 
fields.  Were  these  conditions  reversed,  so  that  the  flowers  appeared 
as  little  spots  of  blue  or  green  in  great  fields  of  blazing  red,  orange, 
and  yellow,  our  pained  eyes  would  be  shut  in  disgust. 

The  painter  knows  that  pigments  cannot  rival  the  brilliancy  of 
the  buttercup  and  poppy,  enhanced  by  their  surroundings.  What 
is  more,  he  does  not  care  to  attempt  it.  Nor  does  the  musician  wish 
to  imitate  the  screech  of  a  siren  or  the  explosion  of  a  gun.  These 
are  not  subjects  for  art.  Harmonious  sounds  are  the  study  of  the 
musician,  and  tuned  colors  are  the  materials  of  the  colorist.     Corot 


PRISIMATIC    COLOR  61 

in  landscape,  and  Titian,Velasquez,  and  Whistler  in  figure  painting, 
show  us  that  Nature's  richest  effects  and  most  beautiful  color  are 
enveloped  in  an  atmosphere  of  gray. 

Beauty  of  Color  lies  in  Tempered  Relations.  Music  rarely 
touches  the  extreme  range  of  sound,  and  harmonious  color  rarely 
uses  the  extremes  of  color-light  or  color-strength.  Regular  scales 
in  the  middle  register  are  first  given  to  train  the  ear,  and  so  should 
the  eye  be  first  familiarized  with  medium  degrees  of  color. 

This  system  provides  measured  scales,  established  by  special  in- 
struments, and  is  able  to  select  the  middle  points  of  red,  yellow, 
green,  blue,  and  purple  as  a  basis  for  comparing  and  relating  all 
colors.  These  five  middle  colors  form  a  Chromatic  Tuning  Fork. 
(See  page  70.)  It  is  far  better  that  children  should  first  become 
familiar  with  these  tuned  color  intervals  which  are  harmonious  in 
themselves  rather  than  begin  by  blundering  among  unrelated 
degrees  of  harsh  and  violent  color.  Who  would  think  of  teaching 
the  musical  scale  with  a  piano  out  of  tune  ? 

The  Tuning  of  Color  cannot  be  left  to  Personal  Whim.  The  wide 
discrepancies  of  red,  yellow,  and  blue,  which  have  been  falsely 
taught  as  primary  colors,  can  no  more  be  tuned  by  a  child  than  the 
musical  novice  can  tune  his  instrument.  Each  of  these  hues  has 
three  variable  factors  (see  page  14,  paragraph  14),  and  scientific 
tests  are  necessary  to  measure  and  relate  their  uneven  degrees  of 
Hue,  Value,  and  Chroma. 

Visual  estimates  of  color,  without  the  help  of  any  standard  for 
comparison,  are  continually  distorted  by  doubt,  guess-w^ork,  and 
the  fatigue  of  the  eye.  Hardly  two  persons  can  agree  in  the  in- 
telligible description  of  color.  Not  only  do  individuals  differ,  but 
the  same  eye  will  vary  in  its  estimates  from  day  to  day.  A  fre- 
quent assumption  that  all  strong  pigments  are  equal  in  chroma,  is 


62  PRISIVIATIC    COLOR 

far  from  the  truth,  and  involves  beginners  in  many  mishaps.  Thus 
the  strongest  blue-green,  chromium  sesquioxide,  is  but  half  the 
chroma  of  its  red  complement,  the  sulphuret  of  mercury.  Yet 
ignorance  is  constantly  leading  to  their  unbalanced  use.  Indeed, 
some  are  still  unaware  that  they  are  the  complements  of  each 
other.* 

It  is  evident  that  the  fundamental  scales  of  Hue,  Value,  and 
Chroma  must  be  established  by  scientific  measures,  not  by  personal 
bias.  This  system  is  unique  in  the  possession  of  such  scales,  made 
possible  by  the  devising  of  special  instruments  for  the  measurement 
of  color,  and  can  therefore  be  trusted  as  a  permanent  basis  for 
training  the  color  sense. 

The  examples  in  Plates  II.  and  III.  show  how  successfully  the 
tuned  crayons,  cards,  and  water  colors  of  this  system  lead  a  child 
to  fine  appreciations  of  color  harmony. 


PLATE  11. 

Color  Studies  with  TUNED  CRAYONS  in  the  Lower 

Grades. 

Children  have  made  every  example  on  this  plate,  with  no  other 
material  than  the  five  crayons  of  middle  hue,  tempered  with  gray 
and  black.  A  Color  Sphere  is  always  kept  in  the  room  for  refer- 
ence, and  five  color  balls  to  match  the  five  middle  hues  are  placed 
in  the  hands  of  the  youngest  pupils.  Starting  with  these  middle 
points  in  the  scales  of  Value  and  Chroma,  they  learn  to  estimate 
rightly  all  lighter  and  darker  values,  all  weaker  and  stronger 
chromas,  and  gradually  build  up  a  disciplined  judgment  of  color. 

*  See  Appendix  to  Chapter  III. 


PRISMATIC    COLOR  63 

Each  study  can  be  made  the  basis  of  many  variations  by  a  simple 
change  of  one  color  element,  as  suggested  in  the  text. 

1.  Butterfly.     Yellow  and  black  crayon.     Vary  by  using  any 

single  crayon  with  black. 

2.  Dish.     Red  crayon,  blue  and  green  crayons  for  back  and 

foreground.  Vary  by  using  the  two  opposites  of  any 
color  chosen  for  the  dish  and  omitting  the  two  neighbor- 
ing colors.     See  No.  4. 

3.  Hiawatha's  canoe.     Yellow  crayon,  with  rim  and  name  in 

green.  Vary  color  of  canoe,  keeping  the  rim  a  neigh- 
boring color.     See  No.  4. 

4.  Color-circle.      Gray  crayon   for  centre,  and   five   crayons 

spaced  equidistant.  This  gives  the  invariable  order, 
red,  yellow,  green,  blue,  purple.  Never  use  all  five 
in  a  single  design.  Either  use  a  color  and  its  two 
neighbors  or  a  color  and  its  two  opposites.  By  ming- 
ling touches  of  any  two  neighbors,  the  intermediates 
are  made  and  named  yellow-red  (orange),  green- 
yellow,  blue-green,  purple-blue  (violet j,  and  red- 
purple.  Abbreviated,  the  circle  reads  R,  YR,  Y, 
GY,  G,  BG,  B,  PB,  P,  RP. 

5.  Rosette.     Red  cross  in  centre,  green  leaves:    blue  field, 

black  outline.     Vary  as  in  No.  2. 

6.  Rosette.     Green  centre  and  edge  of  leaves,  purple  field 

and  black  accents.  Vary  color  of  centre,  keeping  field 
two  colors  distant. 

7.  Plaid.     Use   any   three   crayons   with   black.     Vary   the 

trio. 

8.  Folding  screen.     Yellow  field  (lightly  applied),  green  and 

black  edge.  Make  lighter  and  darker  values  of  each 
color,  and  arrange  in  scales  graded  from  black  to  white. 

9.  Rug.     Light  red  field  with  solid  red  centre,  border  pattern 

and  edges  of  gray.  This  is  called  self -color.  Change 
to  each  of  the  crayons. 


64  PRISMATIC    COLOR 

10.  Rug.     Light  yellow  field  and  solid  centre,  with  purple  and 

black  in  border  design.  Vary  by  change  of  ground, 
keeping  design  two  colors  distant  and  darkened  with 
black. 

11.  Lattice.     Yellow  with  black:  alternate  green  and  blue  loz- 

enges.    Vary  by  keeping  the  lozenges  of  two  neigh- 
boring colors,  but  one  color  removed  from  that  of  the 
lattice. 
For  principles  involved  in  these  color  groups,  see  Chapter  III. 


PLATE  III. 

Color  Studies  with  TUNED    WATER   COLORS    in  the 

Upper  Grades. 

Previous  work  with  measured  scales,  made  by  the  tuned  crayons 
and  tested  by  reference  to  the  color  sphere,  have  so  trained  the  color 
judgment  that  children  may  now  be  trusted  with  more  flexible 
material.  They  have  memorized  the  equable  degrees  of  color  on 
the  equator  of  the  sphere,  and  found  how  lighter  colors  may  bal- 
ance darker  colors,  how  small  areas  of  stronger  chroma  may  be 
balanced  by  larger  masses  of  weaker  chroma,  and  in  general  gained 
a  disciplined  color  sense.  Definite  impressions  and  clear  thinking 
have  taken  the  place  of  guess-work  and  blundering. 

Thus,  before  reaching  the  secondary  school,  they  are  put  in  pos- 
session of  the  color  faculty  by  a  system  and  notation  similar  to  that 
which  was  devised  centuries  ago  for  the  musical  sense.  No  system, 
however  logical,  will  produce  the  artist,  but  every  artist  needs  some 
systematic  training  at  the  outset,  and  this  simple  method  by  meas- 
ured scales  is  believed  to  be  the  best  yet  devised. 

Each  example  on  this  plate  may  be  made  the  basis  of  many 
variants,  by  small  changes  in  the  color  steps,  as  suggested  in  the 


Copyright  1207  by  A.H.  MunselL 


PRISMATIC    COLOR  65 

text,  and  further  elaborated  in  Chapter  VI.  Indeed,  the  studies 
reproduced  on  Plates  II.  and  III.  are  but  a  handful  among  hun- 
dreds of  pleasing  results  produced  in  a  single  school.* 

1.  Pattern.     Purple  and  green:   the  two  united  and  thinned 

with  water  will  give  the  ground.  Vary  with  any  other 
color  pair. 

2.  Pattern.     Figure  in  middle  red,  with  darker  blue-green 

accent.  Ground  of  middle  yellow,  grayed  with  slight 
addition  of  the  red  and  green.  Vary  with  purple  in 
place  of  blue-green. 

3.  Japanese  teapot.     Middle  red,  with  background  of  lighter 

yellow  and  foreground  of  grayed  middle  yellow. 

4.  Variant  on  No.  3.     Middle  yellow,  with  slight  addition  of 

green.  Foreground  the  same,  with  more  red,  and 
background  of  middle  gray. 

5.  Group.     Background  of  yellow-red,  lighter  vase  in  yellow- 

green,  and  darker  vase  of  green,  with  slight  addition  of 
black.  Vary  by  inversion  of  the  colors  in  ground  and 
darker  vase. 

6.  Wall   decoration.     Frieze   pattern   made   of  cat-tails   and 

leaves, — the  leaves  of  blue-green  with  black,  tails  of 
yellow-red  with  black,  and  ground  of  the  two  colors 
united  and  thinned  with  water.  Wall  of  blue-green, 
slightly  grayed  by  additions  of  the  two  colors  in  the 
frieze.  Dado  could  be  a  match  of  the  cat-tails  slightly 
grayer.     See  Fig.  23,  page  82. 

7.  Group.     Foreground   in  purple-blue,  grayed  with  black. 

Vase  of  purple-red,  and  background  in  lighter  yellow- 
red,  grayed. 

For  analysis  of  the  groups  and  means  of  recording  them,  see 
Chapter  III. 

*  The  Pope  School,  Somerville,  Mass, 


Chapter  V. 


A  PIGMENT  COLOR  SPHERE  * 

How  to  make  a  color  sphere  with  pigments. 

(102)  The  preceding  chapters  have  built  up  an  ideal  color  solid, 
in  which  every  sensation  of  color  finds  its  place  and  is  clearly 

named   by    its    degree   of   hue,    value,    and 
chroma. 

It  has  been  shown  that  the  neutral  centre  of 
the  system  is  a  balancing  point  for  all  colors, 
that  a  line  through  this  centre  finds  opposite 
colors  which  balance  and  complement  each 
other;  and  we  are  now  ready  to  make  a 
practical  application,  carrying  out  these  ideal 

relations   of  color   as   far   as   pigments   wiU   permit   in  a  color 

sphere  *  (Fig.  16). 

(103)  The  materials  are  quite  simple.  First  a  colorless  globe, 
mounted  so  as  to  spin  freely  on  its  axis.  Then  a  measured  scale 
of  value,  specially  devised  for  this  purpose,  obtained  by  the  day- 
light photometer. f  Next  a  set  of  carefully  chosen  pigments,  whose 
reasonable  permanence  has  been  tested  by  long  use,  and  which  are 
prepared  so  that  they  will  not  glisten  when  spread  on  the  surface  of 
the  globe,  bu  ■;  give  a  uniformly  mat  surface.  A  glass  palette,  palette 
knife,  and  some  fine  brushes  complete  the  list. 

(104)  Here  is  a  list  of  the  paints  arranged  in  pairs  to  represent 

*  Patented  Jan.  9,  1900.  t  See  paragraph  65. 


COLOR   SPHERE 


67 


the  five  sets  of  opposite  hues  described  in  Chapter  III.,  paragraphs 

61-63:— 

Color  Pairs, 

Pigments  Used, 

Chemical  Nature. 

Red 

Venetian  red. 

Calcined  native  earth. 

and 

Blue-green. 

Viridian  and  Cobalt. 

Chromium  sesquioxide. 

Yellow 

Raw  Sienna. 

Native  earth. 

and 

' 

Purple-blue. 

Ultramarine. 

Artificial  product. 

Green 

Emerald  green. 

Arsenate  of  copper. 

and 

Red-purple. 

Purple  madder. 

Extract  of  the  madder  plant. 

Blue 

Cobalt. 

Oxide  of  cobalt  with  alumina. 

and 

Yellow-red. 

Orange  cadmium. 

Sulphide  of  cadmium. 

Purple 

Madder  and  cobalt. 

See  each  pigment  above. 

and 

Green-yellow, 

.    Emerald  green  and  Sienna, 

.  See  each  pigment  above. 

(105)  These  paints  have  various  degrees  of  hue,  value,  and 
chroma,  but  can  be  tempered  by  additions  of  the  neutrals,  zinc 

white  and  ivory  black,  until  each  is  brought 
to  a  middle  value  and  tested  on  the  value 
scale.  After  each  pair  has  been  thus  bal- 
anced, they  are  painted  in  their  appropriate 
spaces  on  the  globe,  forming  an  equator  of 
balanced  hues. 

(106)  The  method  of  proving  this  balance 
has  already  been  suggested  in  Chapter  IV., 
paragraph  93.  It  consists  of  an  ingenious  implement  devised  by 
Clerk-Maxwell,  which  gives  us  a  result  of  mixing  colors  without 
the  chemical  risks  of  letting  them  come  in  contact,  and  also  meas- 
ures accurately  the  quantity  of  each  which  is  used  (Fig.  17). 
(107)  This  is  called  a  Maxwell  disc,  and  is  nothing  more  than 


'•'i-7 


68  COLOR  SPHERE 

a  circle  of  firm  cardboard,  pierced  with  a  central  hole  to  fit  the 
spindle  of  a  rotary  motor,  and  with  a  radial  slit  from  rim  to  centre, 
so  that  another  disc  may  be  slid  over  the  first  to  cover  any  desired 
fraction  of  its  surface.  Let  us  paint  one  of  these  discs  with  Ve- 
netian red  and  the  other  with  viridian  and  cobalt,  the  first  pair 
in  the  list  of  pigments  to  be  used  on  the  globe. 

(108)  Having  dried  these  two  discs,  one  is  combined  with  the 
other  on  the  motor  shaft  so  that  each  color  occupies  half  the  circle. 
As  soon  as  the  motor  starts,  the  two  colors  are  no  longer  distin- 
guished, and  rapid  rotation  melts  them  so  perfectly  that  the  eye 
sees  a  new  color,  due  to  their  mixture  on  the  retina.  This  new 
color  is  a  reddish  gray,  showing  that  the  red  is  more  chromatic 
than  the  blue-green.  But  by  stopping  the  motor  and  sliding  the 
blue-green  disc  to  cover  more  of  the  red  one,  there  comes  a  point 
where  rotation  melts  them  into  a  perfectly  neutral  gray.  No 
hint  of  either  hue  remains,  and  the  pair  is  said  to  balance. 

(109)  Since  this  balance  has  been  obtained  by  unequal  areas 
of  the  two  pigments,  it  must  compensate  for  a  lack  of  equal  chroma 
in  the  hues  (see  paragraphs  76,  77) ;  and,  to  measure  this  inequality, 
a  slightly  larger  disc,  with  decimal  divisions  on  its  rim,  is  placed 
back  of  the  two  painted  ones.  If  this  scale  shows  the  red  as  occupy- 
ing 3j  parts  of  the  area,  while  blue-green  occupies  6j  parts,  then 
the  blue-green  must  be  only  half  as  chromatic  as  the  red,  since  it 
takes  twice  as  much  to  produce  the  balance. 

(110)  The  red  is  then  grayed  (diminished  in  chroma  by  additions 
of  a  middle  gray)  until  it  can  occupy  half  the  circle,  with  blue- 
green  on  the  remaining  half,  and  still  produce  neutrality  when 
mixed  by  rotation.  Each  disc  now  reads  5  on  the  decimal  scale. 
Lest  the  graying  of  red  should  have  disturbed  its  value,  it  is  again 
tested  on  the  photometric  scale,  and  reads  4.7,  showing  it  has  been 


COLOR    SPHERE  69 

slightly  darkened  by  the  graying  process.     A  little  white  is  there- 
fore added  until  its  value  is  restored  to  5. 

(111)  The  two  opposites  are  now  completely  balanced,  for  they 
are  equal  in  value  (5),  equal  in  chroma  (5),  and  have  proved 
their  equality  as  complements  by  uniting  in  equal  areas  to  form 
a  neutral  mixture.  It  only  remains  to  apply  them  in  their  proper 
position  on  the  sphere. 

(112)  A  band  is  traced  around  the  equator,  divided  in  ten  equal 
spaces,  and  lettered  R,  YR,  Y,  GY,  G,  BG,  B,  PB,  P,  and  RP  (see 
Fig.  18).  This  balanced  red  and  blue-green  are  applied  with  the 
brush  to  spaces  marked  R  and  BG,  care  being  taken  to  fill,  but 
not  to  overstep  the  bounds,  and  the  color  laid  absolutely  flat,  that 
no  unevenness  of  value  or  chroma  may  disturb  the  balance. 

(113)  The  next  pair,  represented  by  Raw  Sienna  and  Ultra- 
marine, is  similarly  brought  to  middle  value,  balanced  by  equal 
areas  on  the  Maxwell  discs,  and,  when  correct  in  each  quality, 
is  painted  in  the  spaces  Y  and  PB.  Emerald  Green  and  Purple 
Madder,  which  form  the  next  pigment  pair,  are  similarly  tempered, 
proved,  and  applied,  followed  by  the  two  remaining  pairs,  until 
the  equator  of  the  globe  presents  its  ten  equal  steps  of  middle  hues. 

^-^i:,^  An  equator  of  ten  balanced  hues. 

/^  ^  (114)  Now  comes  the  total  test  of  this  cir- 

/'•'... TSVl\      ^^^*  ^^  balanced  hues  by  rotation  of  the  sphere. 

vfesr''*  *  *•  «f*'|      -^^  ^*  gains  speed,   the  colors  flash  less   and 

Y     * J      less,   and  finally  melt  into  a  middle  gray  of 

^^^  ■  ^^fj  fff,   perfect  neutrality.     Had  it  failed  to  produce 

this  gray  and  shown  a  tinge  of  any  hue  still 

persisting,  we  should  say  that  the  persistent  hue  was  in  excess, 

or,  conversely,  that  its  opposite  hue  was  deficient  in  chroma,  and 

failed  to  preserve  its  share  in  the  balance. 


70  COLOR    SPHERE 


(115)  For  instance,  had  rotation  discovered  the  persistence  of 
reddish  gray,  it  would  have  proved  the  red  too  strong,  or  its 
opposite,  blue-green,  too  weak,  and  we  should  have  been  forced 
to  retrace  our  steps,  applying  a  correction  until  neutrality  was 
established  by  the  rotation  test. 

(116)  This  is  the  practical  demonstration  of  the  assertion 
(Chapter  I.,  paragraph  8)  that  a  color  has  three  dimensions  which 
can  he  measured.  Each  of  these  ten  middle  hues  has  proved  its 
right  to  a  definite  place  on  the  color  globe  by  its  measurements  of 
value  and  chroma.  Being  of  equal  chroma,  all  are  equidistant 
from  the  neutral  centre,  and,  being  equal  in  value,  all  are  equally 
removed  from  the  poles.  If  the  warm  hues  (red  and  yellow)  or 
the  cool  hues  (blue  and  green)  were  in  excess,  the  rotation  test  of 
the  sphere  would  fail  to  produce  grayness,  and  so  detect  its  lack 
of  balance.* 

A  chromatic  tuning  fork. 

(117)  The  five  principal  steps  in  this  color  equator  are  made  in 
permanent  enamel  and  carefully  safeguarded,  so  that,  if  the  pig- 
ments painted  on  the  globe  should  change  or  become  soiled,  it 
could  be  at  once  detected  and  set  right.  These  five  are  middle 
red  (so  called  because  midway  between  white  and  black,  as  well 
as  midway  between  our  strongest  red  and  the  neutral  centre), 
middle  yellow,  middle  green,  middle  blue,  and  middle  purple. 
They  may  be  called  the  chromatic  tuning  fork,  for  they 
serve  to  establish  the  pitch  of  colors,  as  the  musical  tuning  fork 
preserves  the  pitch  of  sounds. 

Completion  of  a  pigment  color  sphere. 

(118)  When  the  chromatic  tuning  fork  has  thus  been  obtained, 

*  Such  a  test  woxild  have  exposed  the  excess  of  warm  color  in  the  schemes  of  Runge 
and  Cheyreul,  as  shown  in  the  Appendix  to  this  chapter. 


COLOR    SPHERE  71 

the  completion  of  the  globe  is  only  a  matter  of  patience,  for  the 

same  method  can  be  applied  at  any  level  in 

the  scale  of  value,  and  a  new  circuit  of  balanced 

y«<^  j.rr>^        hues  made  to  conform  with  its  position  between 

^"i^^^K     the  poles  of  white  and  black. 

^^         (119)  The    surface    above    and    below    the 

"^^Up^  equatorial  band  is  set  off  by  parallels  to  match 
1^^ ^  the  photometric  scale,  making  nine  bands  or 
value  zones  in  all,  of  which  the  equator  is  fifth, 
the  black  pole  being  0  and  the  white  pole  10. 

(120)  Ten  meridians  carry  the  equatorial  hues  across  all  these 
value  zones  and  trace  the  gradation  of  each  hue  through  a  com- 
plete scale  from  black  to  white,  marked  by  their  values,  as  shown  in 
paragraph  68.  Thus  the  red  scale  is  R^ ,  R^,  R^,  R4,  R5  (middle 
red),  R^  ,R'^ ,  R^ ,  and  R^ ,  and  similarly  with  each  of  the  other  hues. 
When  the  circle  of  hues  corresponding  to  each  level  has  been 
applied  and  tested,  the  entire  surface  of  the  globe  is  spread  with 
a  logical  system  of  color  scales,  and  the  eye  gratified  with  regular 
sequences  which  move  by  measured  steps  in  each  direction. 

(121)  Each  meridian  traces  a  scale  of  value  for  the  hue  in  w^hich 
it  lies.  Each  parallel  traces  a  scale  of  hue  for  the  value  at  whose 
level  it  is  drawn.  Any  oblique  path  across  these  scales  traces  a 
regular  sequence,  each  step  combining  change  of  hue  with  a  change 
of  value  and  chroma.  The  more  this  path  approaches  the  verti- 
cal, the  less  are  its  changes  of  hue  and  the  more  its  changes  of 
value  and  chroma;  while,  the  nearer  it  comes  to  the  horizontal,  the 
less  are  its  changes  of  value  and  chroma,  while  the  greater  become 
its  changes  of  hue.  Of  these  two  oblique  paths  the  first  may  be 
called  that  of  a  Luminist,  or  painter  like  Rembrandt,  whose  can- 
vases present  great  contrasts  of  light  and  shade,  while  the  second 


72  COLOR    SPHERE 

is  that  of  the  Colorist,  such  as  Titian,  whose  work  shows  great 
fulness  of  hues  without  the  violent  extremes  of  white  and  black. 

Total  balance  of  the  sphere  tested  by  rotation  on  any  desired  axis. 

(122)  Not  only  does  the  mount  of  the  color  sphere  permit  its 
rotation  on  the  vertical  axis  (white-black),  but  it  is  so  hung  that 
it  may  be  spun  on  the  ends  of  any  desired  axis,  as,  for  instance, 
that  joining  our  first  color  pair,  red  and  blue-green.  With  this 
pair  as  poles  of  rotation,  a  new  equator  is  traced  through  all  the 
values  of  purple  on  one  side  and  of  green-yellow  on  the  other,  which 
the  rotation  test  melts  in  a  perfect  balance  of  middle  gray,  proving 
the  correctness  of  these  values.  In  the  same  way  it  may  be  hung 
and  tested  on  successive  axes,  until  the  total  balance  of  the  entire 
spherical  series  is  proved. 

(123)  But  this  color  system  does  not  cease  with  the  colors  spread 
on  the  surface  of  a  globe.*  The  first  illustration  of  an  orange 
filled  with  color  was  chosen  for  the  purpose  of  stimulating  the 
imagination  to  follow  a  surface  color  inward  to  the  neutral  axis 
by  regular  decrease  of  chroma.  A  slice  at  any  level  of  the  solid, 
as  at  value  8  (Fig.  19),  shows  each  hue  of  that  level  passing  by 
even  steps  of  increasing  grayness  to  the  neutral  gray  N^  of  the  axis. 
In  the  case  of  red  at  this  level,  it  is  easily  described  by  the  nota- 
tion R|^,  R|^,  Ry,  of  which  the  initial  and  upper  numerals  do  not 
change,  but  the  lower  numeral  traces  loss  of  chroma  by  3,  2,  and 
1  to  the  neutral  axis. 

(124)  And  there  are  stronger  chromas  of  red  outside  the  surface, 
which  can  be  written  Rf ,  Rf ,  Rf ,  etc.  Indeed,  our  color  measure- 
ments discover  such  differences  of  chroma  in  the  various  pigments 
used,  that  the  color  tree  referred  to  in  paragraphs  34,  35,  is  necessary 

*  No  color  is  excluded  from  this  system,  but  the  excess  and  inequalities  of  pigment 
chroma  are  traced  in  the  Color  Atlas. 


COLOU    SPHERE  73 

to  bring  before  the  eye  their  maximum  chromas,  most  of  which  are 
well  outside  the  spherical  shell  and  at  various  levels  of  value. 
One  way  to  describe  the  color  sphere  is  to  suggest  that  a  color 
tree,  the  intervals  between  whose  irregular  branches  are  filled 
with  appropriate  color,  can  be  placed  in  a  turning  lathe  and 
turned  down  until  the  color  maxima  are  removed,  thus  pro- 
ducing a  color  solid  no  larger  than  the  chroma  of  its  weakest 
pigment.  (See  illustration  facing  page  32.) 
Charts  of  the  color  solid. 

(125)  Thus  it  becomes  evident  that,  while  the  color  sphere  is  a 
valuable  help  to  the  child  in  conceiving  color  relations,  in  uniting 
the  three  scales  of  color  measure,  and  in  furnishing  with  its 
mount  an  excellent  test  of  the  theory  of  color  balance,  yet  it  is 
always  restricted  to  the  chroma  of  its  weakest  color,  the  surplus 
chromas  of  all  other  colors  being  thought  of  as  enormous  moun- 
tains built  out  at  various  levels  to  reach  the  maxima  of  our 
pigments. 

(126)  The  complete  color  solid  is,  therefore,  of  irregular  shape, 
with  mountains  and  valleys,  corresponding  to  the  inequalities  of 
pigments.  To  display  these  inequalities  to  the  eye,  we  must 
prepare  cross  sections  or  charts  of  the  solid,  some  horizontal, 
some  vertical,  and  others  oblique. 

(127)  Such  a  set  of  charts  forms  an  atlas  of  the  color  solid, 
enabling  one  to  see  any  color  in  its  relation  to  all  other  colors, 
and  name  it  by  its  degree  of  hue,  value,  and  chroma.  Fig.  20  is 
a  horizontal  chart  of  all  colors  which  present  middle  value  (5), 
and  describes  by  an  uneven  contour  the  chroma  of  every  hue  at 
this  level.  The  dotted  fifth  circle  is  the  equator  of  the  color 
sphere,  whose  principal  hues,  R|^,  Yf ,  Gf ,  Bf ,  and  Pf ,  form  the 
chromatic  tuning  fork,  paragraph  117. 


74  COLOR    SPHERE 


pg    Chd.xl  4 

Middle  Ydlue 

-  5- 

^howin^  Une^iuV  Chroma^ 

Jii  circle.  o)-Hu&s«' 

(128)  In  this  single  chart  the  eye  readily  distinguishes  some 
three  hundred  different  colors,  each  of  which  may  be  written  by 
its  hue,  value,  and  chroma.  And  even  the  slightest  variation  of 
one  of  them  can  be  defined.  Thus,  if  Rf  (middle  red)  were  to 
fade  sHghtly,  so  that  it  was  a  trifle  lighter  and  a  trifle  weaker  than 
the  enamel,  it  would  be  written  R|^,  showing  it  had  lightened 
by  1  per  cent,  and  weakened  by  1  per  cent.  The  discrimination 
made  possible  by  this  decimal  notation  is  much  finer  than  our 
present  visual  limit.  Its  use  will  stimulate  finer  perception  of 
color. 

(129)  Such  a  very  elementary  sketch  of  the  Color  Solid  and 
Color  Atlas,  which  is  all  that  can  be  given  in  the  confines  of 
this  small  book,  will  be  elsewhere  presented  on  a  larger  and  more 
complete  scale.  It  should  be  contrasted  with  the  ideal  form 
composed  of  prismatic  colors,  suggested  in  the  last  chapter,  para- 


COLOR   SPHERE 


75 


graphs  98,  99,  whicli  was  shown  to  be  impracticable,  but  whose 
ideal  conditions  it  follows  as  far  as  the  limitations  of  pigments 
permit. 

(130)  Besides  its  value  in  education  as  setting  all  our  color 
notions  in  order,  and  supplying  a  simple  method  for  their  clear 
expression,  it  promises  to  do  away  with  much  of  the  misunder- 
standing that  accompanies  the  every-day  use  of  color. 

(131)  Popular  color  names  are  incongruous,  irrational,  and 
often  ludicrous.  One  must  smile  in  reading  the  list  of  25  steps 
in  a  scale  of  blue,  made  by  Schiffer-MuUer  in  1772 : — 


A. 

a. 

White  pure. 

H. 

Covert  blue  or  turquoise. 

b. 

White  silvery  or  pearly. 

I. 

King  blue  (deep). 

c. 

White  milky. 

J. 

Light  brown  blue  or  indigo. 

B. 

a. 

Bluish  white. 

K. 

a. 

Persian  blue  or  woad  flower. 

b. 

Pearly  white. 

b. 

Forge  or  steel  blue. 

c. 

Watery  white. 

c. 

Livid  blue. 

C. 

Blue  being  bom. 

L. 

a. 

Blackish  blue. 

D. 

Blue  dying  or  pale. 

b. 

Hellish  blue. 

E. 

Mignon  blue. 

c. 

Black-blue. 

F. 

Celestial  blue,  or  sky-color. 

M. 

a. 

Blue-black  or  charcoal. 

G. 

a. 

Azure,  or  ultramarine. 

b. 

Velvet  black. 

b. 

Complete  or  perfect  blue. 

c. 

Jet  black. 

c. 

Fine  or  queen  blue. 

The  advantage  of  spacing  these  25  colors  in  13  groups,  some  with 
three  and  others  with  but  one  example,  is  not  apparent;  nor  why 
ultramarine  should  be  several  steps  above  turquoise,  for  the 
reverse  is  generally  true.  Besides  which  the  hue  of  turquoise 
is  greenish,  while  that  of  ultramarine  is  purplish,  but  the  list 
cannot  show  this;  and  the  remarkable  statement  that  one  kind 
of  blue  is  "  hellish,"  while  another  is  "  celestial,"  should  rest  upon 
an  experience  that  few  can  claim.  Failing  to  define  color-value 
and  color-hue,  the  list  gives  no  hint  of  color-strength,  except  at 


76  COLOR    SPHERE 

C  and  D,  where  one  kind  of  blue  is  "dying"  when  the  next  is 
"being  born,"  which  not  inaptly  describes  the  color  memory  of 
many  a  person.  Finally,  it  assures  us  that  Queen  blue  is  "fine" 
and  King  blue  is  "  deep." 

This  year  the  fashionable  shades  are  "  burnt  onion  "  and  "  fresh 
spinach."  The  florists  talk  of  a  "  pink  violet "  and  a  "  green  pink." 
A  maker  of  inks  describes  the  red  as  a  "true  crimson  scarlet," 
which  is  a  contradiction  in  terms.  These  and  a  host  of  other 
names  borrowed  from  the  most  heterogeneous  sources,  become  out- 
lawed as  soon  as  the  simple  color  terms  and  measures  of  this  sys- 
tem are  adopted. 

Color  anarchy  is  replaced  by  systematic  color  description. 


Appendix  to  Chapter  V. 


Color  schemes  based  on  Brewster*s  mistaken  theory. 

Runge,  of  Hamburg   (1810),  suggested  that  red,  yellow,  and 
blue  be  placed  equidistant  around  the  equator  of  a  sphere,  with 
iwKiii        white  and  black  at  opposite  poles.     As  the  yel- 
low was  very  light  and  the  blue  very  dark,  any 
coherency  in  the  value  scales  of  red,  yellow,  and 
blue  was  impossible. 

Chevreul,  of  Paris  (1861),  seeking  uniform 
color  scales  for  his  workmen  at  the  Gobelins, 
devised  a  hollow  cylinder  built  up  of  ten  color 
circles.  The  upper  circle  had  red,  yellow, 
and  blue  spaced  equidistant,  and,  as  in 
Runge's  solid,  yellow  was  very  light  and  blue  very 
dark.  Each  circle  was  then  made  "one-tenth" 
darker  than  the  next  above,  until  black  was  reached  at  the  base. 
Although  each  circle  was  supposed  to  lie  horizontally,  only  the 
black  lowest  circle  presents  a  level  of  uniform  values. 

Yellow  values  increase  their  luminosity  thrice  as  fast  as  purple 
values,  so  that  each  circle  should  tilt  at  an  increasing  angle,  and 
the  upper  circle  of  strongest  colors  be  inclined  at  60°  to  the  black 
base.  Besides  this  fault  shared  with  Runge's  sphere,  it  falls  into 
another  by  not  diminishing  the  size  of  the  lower  circles  where 
added  black  diminishes  the  chroma. 

Desire  to  make  colors  fit  a  chosen  contour,  and  the  absence  of 


78  COLOR    SPHERE 

measuring  instruments,  cause  these  schemes  to  ignore  the  facts 
of  color  relation.  Like  ancient  maps  made  to  satisfy  a  conqueror, 
they  amuse  by  their  distortion. 

Brewster's  mistaken  theory  underlies  these  schemes,  as  is  also 
the  case  with  Froebel's  gifts,  whose  color  balls  continue  to  give 
wrong  notions  at  the  very  threshold  of  color  education.  As 
pointed  out  in  the  Appendix  to  Chapter  III.,  the  "  red-yellow-blue" 
theory  inevitably  spreads  the  warm  field  of  yellow-red  too  far, 
and  contracts  the  blue  field,  so  that  balance  of  color  is  rendered 
impossible,  as  illustrated  in  the  gaudy  chromo  and  flaming  bill- 
board. 

These  schemes  are  criticised  by  Rood  as  "  not  only  in  the  main 
arbitrary,  but  also  vague";  and,  although  Chevreul's  charts  were 
published  by  the  government  in  most  elaborate  form,  their  useful- 
ness is  small.  Interest  in  the  growth  of  the  present  system,  be- 
cause of  its  measured  character,  led  Professor  Rood  to  give  assist- 
ance in  the  tests,  and  at  his  request  a  color  sphere  was  made  for 
the  Physical  Cabinet  at  Columbia. 


Chapter  VI. 


I'^r  at  -^^ 


T^ai. 


COLOR  NOTATION. 

Suggestion  of  a  cliromatic  score. 

(132)  The  last  chapter  traced  a  series  of  steps  leading  to  the 
construction  of  a  practical  color  sphere.     Each  color  was  tested 

by  appropriate  instruments  to  assure  its  degree 
of  hue,  value,  and  chroma,  before  being  placed 
in  position.  Then  the  total  sphere  was  tested 
to  detect  any  lack  of  balance. 

(133)  Each  color  was  also  written  by  a 
letter  and  two  numerals,  showing  its  place  in 
the  three  scales  of  hue,  value,  and  chroma. 
This  naturally  suggests,  not  only  a  record 
of  each  separate  color  sensation,  but  also  a  union  of  these 
records  in  series  and  groups  to  form  a  color  score,  similar  to 
the  musical  score  by  which  the  measured  relations  of  sound  are 
recorded. 

(134)  A  very  simple  form  of  color  score  may  be  easily  imagined 
as  a  transparent  envelope  wrapped  around  the  equator  of  the 
sphere,  and  forming  a  vertical  cylinder  (Fig.  21).  On  the  envelope 
the  equator  traces  a  horizontal  centre  line,  which  is  at  5  of  the  value 
scale,  with  zones  6,  7,  8,  and  9  as  parallels  above,  and  the  zones 
4,  3,  2,  and  1  below.  Vertical  lines  are  drawn  through  ten 
equidistant  points  on  this  centre  line,  corresponding  with  the  di- 
visions of  the  hue  scale,  and  marked  R,  YR,  Y,  GY,  G,  BG,  B, 
PB,  P,  and  RP. 


80  COLOR   NOTATION 

(135)  The  transparent  envelope  is  thus  divided  into  one  hundred 
compartments,  which  provide  for  ten  steps  of  value  in  each  of  the 
ten  middle  colors.  Now,  if  we  cut  open  this  envelope  along  one 
of  the  verticals, — as,  for  instance,  red-purple  (RP),  it  may  be 
spread  out,  making  a  flat  chart  of  the  color  sphere  (Fig.  22). 

Why  green  is  given  the  centre  of  the  score. 

(136)  A  cylindrical  envelope  might  be  opened  on  any  desired 
meridian,  but  it  is  an  advantage  to  have  green  (G)  at  the  centre 

of  the  chart,  and  it  is  there- 


Cool  color.  (V^M)     I     CO&rm  color.OijW',) 
Cool  color, (d<vk)     I      IDaxm  CiAaf.(do.rk^ 


fore  opened  at  the  opposite 
point,  red-purple  (RP).  To 
the  right  of  the  green  centre 
are  the  meridians  of  green- 
7Jj.it.  yellow  (GY),  yellow  (Y), 
yellow-red  (YR),  and  red 
(R),  all  of  which  are  known  as  warm  colors y  because  they  contain 
yellow  and  red.  To  the  left  are  the  meridians  of  blue-green 
(BG),  blue  (B),  purple-blue  (PB),  and  purple  (P),  all  of  which 
are  called  cool  colors,  because  they  contain  blue.  Green,  being 
neither  warm  nor  cold  of  itself,  and  becoming  so  only  by  addi- 
tions of  yellow  or  of  blue,  thus  serves  as  a  balancing  point  or 
centre  in  the  hue-scale.* 

(137)  The  color  score  presents  four  large  divisions  or  color 
fields  made  by  the  intersection  of  the  equator  with  the  meridian 
of  green.  Above  the  centre  are  all  light  colors,  and  below  it  are 
all  dark  colors.  To  the  right  of  the  centre  are  all  warm  colors, 
and  to  the  left  are  all  cool  colors.  Middle  green  (5Gf )  is  the 
centre  of  balance  for  these  contrasted  quaUties,  recognized  by  all 

*  To  put  this  in  terms  of  the  spectrum  ware  lengths,  long  waves  at  the  red  end  of 
the  spectrum  give  the  sensation  of  warmth,  while  short  waves  at  the  violet  end  cause  the 
sensation  of  coolness.     Midway  between  these  extremes  is  the  wave  length  of  green. 


COLOR   NOTATION  81 

practical  color  workers.  The  chart  forms  a  rectangle  whose 
length  equals  the  equator  of  the  color  sphere  and  its  height  equals 
the  axis  (a  proportion  of  3.14 :  1),  representing  a  union  and  bal- 
ance of  the  scales  of  hue  and  of  value.  This  provides  for  two 
color  dimensions;  but,  to  be  complete,  the  chart  must  provide 
for  the  third  dimension,  chroma. 

(138)  Replacing  the  chart  around  the  sphere  and  joining  its 
ends,  so  that  it  re-forms  the  transparent  envelope,  we  may  thrust 
a  pin  through  at  any  point  until  it  pierces  the  surface  of  the  sphere. 
Indeed,  the  pin  can  be  thrust  deeper  until  it  reaches  the  neutral 
axis,  thus  forming  a  scale  of  chroma  for  the  color  point  where  it 
enters  (see  paragraph  12).  In  the  same  way  any  colors  on  the 
sphere,  within  the  sphere,  or  without  it,  can  have  pins  thrust  into 
the  chart  to  mark  their  place,  and  the  length  by  which  each  pin 
projects  can  be  taken  as  a  measure  of  chroma.  If  the  chart  is 
now  unrolled,  it  retains  the  pins,  which  by  their  place  describe  the 
hue  and  value  of  a  color,  while  their  length  describes  its  chroma. 

Pins  stuck  into  the  score  represent  chroma. 

(139)  With  this  idea  of  the  third  color  dimension  incorporated 
in  the  score  we  can  discard  the  pin,  and  record  its  length  by  a 
numeral.  Any  dot  placed  on  the  score  marks  a  certain  degree 
of  hue  and  value,  while  a  numeral  beside  it  marks  the  degree  of 
chroma  which  it  carries,  uniting  with  the  hue  and  value  of  that 
point  to  give  us  a  certain  color.  Glancing  over  a  series  of  such 
color  points,  the  eye  easily  grasps  their  individual  character,  and 
connects  them  into  an  intelligible  series. 

(140)  Thus  a  flat  chart  becomes  the  projection  of  the  color 
solid,  and  any  color  in  that  solid  is  transferred  to  the  surface  of 
the  chart,  retaining  its  degrees  of  hue,  value,  and  chroma.  So 
far  the  scales  have  been  spoken  of  as  divided  into  ten  steps,  but 


82 


COLOR   NOTATION 


Ks^g 


TV       Pitrplc 


(Sreea     QY        YeUour    YR 


Color  Score- (of  w^ 6  in  plate mj-efiviNc  Areas  bt H.Yand  C. 

they  may  be  subdivided  much  finer,  if  desired,  by  use  of  the  deci- 
mal point.  It  is  a  question  of  convenience  whether  to  make  a  small 
score  with  only  the  large  divisions,  or  a  much  larger  score  with 
a  hundred  times  as  many  steps.  In  the  latter  case  each  hue  has 
ten  steps,  the  middle  step  of  green  being  distinguished  as  5Gf  to 
suggest  the  four  steps  IG,  2G,  3G,  4G,  which  precede  it,  and  6G, 
7G,  8G,  and  9G,  which  follow  it  toward  blue-green. 
The  score  preserves  color  records  in  a  convenient  shape. 

Such  a  color  score,  or  notation  diagram,  to  be  made  small  or 
large  as  the  case  demands,  offers  a  very  convenient  means  for 

recording  color  combinations,  when  pig- 
ments are  not  at  hand. 

(141)  To  display  its  three  dimensions, 
a  little  model  can  be  made  with  three 
visiting   cards,   so   placed   as   to   present 
their  mutual  intersection  at  right  angles 
(Fig.  24). 
5G|^  is  their  centre  of  mutual  balance.     A  central  plane  sep- 
arates  all  colors   into   two   contrasted  fields.     To   the  right  are 
all  warm  colors,  to  the  left  are   all  cool  colors.     Each  of  these 


T7j.i4. 


COLOR    NOTATION  83 

fields  is  again  divided  by  the  plane  of  the  equator  into  lighter 
colors  above  and  darker  colors  below.  These  four  color  fields 
are  again  subdivided  by  a  transverse  plane  through  5G|^  into 
strong  colors  in  front  and  weak  colors  beyond  or  behind  it. 

(142)  Any  color  group,  whose  record  must  all  be  written  to 
the  right  of  the  centre,  is  warm,  because  red  and  yellow  are 
dominant.  One  to  the  left  of  the  centre  must  be  cool,  because 
it  is  dominated  by  blue.  A  group  written  all  above  the  centre 
must  have  light  in  excess,  while  one  written  entirely  below  is  dark 
to  excess.  Finally,  a  score  written  all  in  front  of  the  centre 
represents  only  strong  chromas,  while  one  written  behind  it  con- 
tains only  weak  chromas.  From  this  we  gather  that  a  balanced 
composition  of  color  preserves  some  sort  of  equilibrium,  uniting 
degrees  of  warm  and  cool,  of  light  and  dark,  and  of  weak  and  strong, 
which  is  made  at  once  apparent  by  the  dots  on  the  score. 

(143)  A  single  color,  like  that  of  a  violet,  a  rose,  or  a  butter- 
cup, appears  as  a  dot  on  the  score,  with  a  numeral  added  for  its 
chroma.  A  parti-colored  flower,  such  as  a  nasturtium,  is  shown 
by  two  dots  with  their  chromas,  and  a  bunch  of  red  and  yellow 
flowers  will  give  by  their  dots  a  color  passage,  or  "silhouette," 
whose  warmth  and  lightness  is  unmistakable. 

The  chroma  of  each  flower  written  with  the  silhouette  com- 
pletes the  record.  The  hues  of  a  beautiful  Persian  rug,  with  dark 
red  predominating,  or  a  verdure  tapestry,  in  which  green  is 
dominant,  or  a  Japanese  print,  with  blue  dominant,  will  trace 
upon  the  score  a  pattern  descriptive  of  its  color  qualities.  These 
records,  with  practice,  become  as  significant  to  the  eye  as  the 
musical  score.  The  general  character  of  a  color  combination 
is  apparent  at  a  glance,  while  its  degrees  of  clnroma  are  readily 
joined  to  fill  out  the  mental  image. 


84  COLOR    NOTATION 

(144)  Such  a  plan  of  color  notation  grows  naturally  from  the 
spherical  system  of  measured  colors.  It  is  hardly  to  be  hoped, 
in  devising  a  color  score,  that  it  should  not  seem  crude  at  first. 
But  the  measures  forming  the  basis  of  this  record  can  be  verified 
by  impartial  instruments,  and  have  a  permanent  value  in  the 
general  study  of  color.  They  also  afford  some  definite  data  as  to 
personal  bias  in  color  estimates. 

(145)  This  makes  it  possible  to  collect  in  a  convenient  form 
two  contrasting  and  valuable  records,  one  preserving  such  effects 
of  color  as  are  generally  called  pleasing,  and  another  of  such 
groups  as  are  found  unpleasant  to  the  eye.  Out  of  such  material 
something  may  be  gained,  more  reliable  than  the  shifting, 
personal,  and  contradictory  statements  about  color  harmony  now 
prevalent. 


Chapter  VII. 

COLOR  HARMONY. 

Colors  may  be  grouped  to  please  or  to  give  annoyance. 

(146)  Attempts  to  define  the  laws  of  harmonious  color  have  not 
attained  marked  success,  and  the  cause  is  not  far  to  seek.  The 
very  sensations  underlying  these  effects  of  concord  or  of  discord 
are  themselves  undefined.  The  misleading  formula  of  my  student 
days — that  three  parts  of  yellow,  five  parts  of  red,  and  eight  parts 
of  blue  would  combine  harmoniously — was  unable  to  define  the 
hind  of  red,  yellow,  and  blue  intended;  that  is,  the  hue,  value,  and 
chroma  of  each  of  these  colors  was  unknown,  and  the  formula 
meant  a  different  thing  to  each  person  who  tried  to  use  it. 

(147)  It  is  true  that  a  certain  red,  green,  and  blue  can  be  united 
in  such  proportions  on  Maxwell  discs  as  to  balance  in  a  neutral 
gray;  but  the  slightest  change  in  either  the  hue,  value,  or  chroma, 
of  any  one  of  them,  upsets  the  balance.  A  new  proportion  is 
then  needed  to  regain  the  neutral  mixture.  This  has  already  been 
shown  in  the  discussion  of  triple  balance  (paragraph  82). 

(148)  Harmony  of  color  has  been  still  further  complicated 
by  the  use  of  terms  that  belong  to  musical  harmony.  Now  music 
is  a  measured  art,  and  has  found  a  set  of  intervals  which  are  de- 
fined scientifically.  The  two  arts  have  many  points  of  simi- 
larity; and  the  impulses  of  sound  waves  on  the  ear,  like  those  of 
light  waves  on  the  eye,  are  measured  vibrations.  But  they 
are   far  apart  in   their  scales,  and  differ  so  much  in  important 


86  '  COLOR   HARMONY 

particulars  that  no  practical  relationship  can  be  set  up. 
The  intervals  of  color  sensation  require  fit  names  and  measures, 
ere  their  infinite  variety  can  be  organized  into  a  fixed  system. 

(149)  Any  effort  to  compare  certain  sounds  to  certain  colors 
soon  leads  to  the  wildest  vagaries. 

Harmony  of  sound  is  unlike  harmony  of  color. 

(150)  The  poverty  of  color  language  tempts  to  a  borrowing 
from  the  richer  terminology  of  music.  Musical  terms,  such  as 
"pitch,  key,  note,  tone,  chord,  modulation,  nocturne,  and  sym- 
phony," are  frequently  used  in  the  description  of  color,  serving 
by  association  to  convey  certain  vague  ideas. 

(151)  In  the  same  way  the  term  color  harmony,  from  associa- 
tion with  musical  harmony,  presents  to  the  mind  an  image  of  color 
arrangement, — varied,  yet  well  proportioned,  grouped  in  orderly 
fashion,  and  agreeable  to  the  eye.  But  any  attempt  to  define 
this  image  in  terms  of  color  is  disappointing.  Here  is  a  beauti- 
ful Persian  rug :  why  do  we  call  it  beautiful  ?  One  says  "  because 
its  colors  are  rich"  Why  are  they  rich?  "Because  they  are 
deep  in  tone."  What  does  that  mean?  The  double-bass  and 
the  fog-horn  are  deep  in  tone,  but  not  necessarily  beautiful  on  that 
account.  "Oh,  no,"  says  another,  "it  is  all  in  one  harmonious 
key"  But  what  is  a  key  of  color ?  Is  it  made  by  all  the  values 
of  one  color,  such  as  red,  or  by  all  the  hues  of  equal  value,  such 
as  the  middle  hues  in  our  color  solid  ? 

(152)  Certainly  it  is  neither,  for  the  rug  has  both  light  and  dark 
colors;  and,  of  the  reds,  yellows,  greens,  and  blues,  some  are 
stronger  and  others  weaker.  Then  what  do  we  mean  by  a  key  of 
color?  One  must  either  continue  to  flounder  about  or  frankly 
confess  ignorance. 

(153)  Musical  harmony  explains  itself  in  clear  language.     It 


COLOR   HARMONY  87 

is  illustrated  by  fixed  and  definite  sound  intervals,  whose  meas- 
ured relations  form  the  basis  of  musical  composition.  Each  key 
has  an  unmistakable  character,  and  the  written  score  presents  a 
statement  that  means  practically  the  same  thing  to  every  person 
of  musical  intelhgence.  But  the  adequate  terms  of  color  har- 
mony are  yet  to  be  worked  out. 

Let  us  leave  these  musical  analogies,  retaining  only  the  clue 
that  a  measured  and  orderly  relation  underlies  the  idea  of  harmony. 
The  color  solid  which  has  been  the  subject  of  these  pages  is  built 
upon  measured  color  relations.  It  unites  measured  scales  of 
hue,  value,  and  chroma,  and  gives  a  definite  color  name  to  every 
sensation  from  the  maxima  of  color-light  and  color-strength  to 
their  disappearance  in  darkness. 

(154)  Must  not  this  theoretical  color  soHd,  therefore,  locate  all 
the  elements  which  combine  to  produce  color  harmony  or  color 
discord?* 

(155)  Instead  of  theorizing,  let  us  experiment.  As  a  child 
at  the  piano,  who  first  strikes  random  and  widely  separated  notes, 
but  soon  seeks  for  the  intervals  of  a  familiar  air,  so  let  us,  after 
roaming  over  the  color  globe  and  its  charts,  select  one  familiar 
color,  and  study  what  others  will  combine  with  it  to  please  the  eye. 

(156)  Here  is  a  grayish  green  stuff  for  a  dress,  and  the  little  girl 
who  is  to  wear  it  asks  what  other  colors  she  may  use  with  it.  First 
let  us  find  it  on  our  instrument,  so  as  to  realize  its  relation  to  other 
degrees  of  color.  Its  value  is  6, — one  step  above  the  equator  of 
middle  value.     Its  hue  is  green,  G,  and  its  chroma  5.     It  is  written 

Gf. 

(157)  Color  paths  lead  out  from  this  point  in  every  direction. 

*  Professor  James  says  there  are  three  classic  stages  in  the  career  of  a  theory:  "First, 
it  is  attacked  as  absurd;  then  admitted  to  be  true,  but  obvious  and  insignificant;  finally 
it  is  seen  to  be  so  important  that  its  adversaries  claim  to  be  its  discoverers." 


88  COLOR   HARMONY 

Where  shall  we  find  harmonious  colors,  where  discordant,  where 
those  paths  most  frequently  travelled  ?  Are  there  new  ones  still 
to  be  explored  ? 

(158)  There  are  three  typical  paths:  one  vertical,  with  rapid 
change  of  value;  another  lateral,  with  rapid  change  of  hue;  and 
a  third  inward,  through  the  neutral  centre  to  seek  the  opposite 
color  field.  All  other  paths  are  combinations  of  two  or  three  of 
these  typical  directions  in  the  color  solid. 

Three  typical  color  paths. 

(159)  1.  The  vertical  path  finds  only  lighter  and  darker  values 
of  gray-green, — "  self -colors  or  shades,"  they  are  generally  called, — 

and  offers  a  safe  path,  even  for  those  de- 
ficient in  color  sensation,  avoiding  all  com- 
plications of  hue,  and  leaving  the  eye  free 
to  estimate  different  degrees  of  a  single 
quality, — color-light. 

(160)  2.  The  lateral  path  passes  through 
^jis:  neighboring  hues  on  either  side.  In  this  case 
it  is  a  sequence  from  blue,  through  green  into 
yellow.  This  is  simply  change  of  hue,  without  change  of  value 
or  chroma  if  the  path  be  level,  but,  by  inchning  it,  one  end  of 
the  sequence  becomes  lighter,  while  the  other  end  darkens.  It 
thus  becomes  an  intermediate  between  the  first  and  second  typ- 
ical paths,  combining,  at  each  step,  a  change  of  hue  with  a 
change  of  value.  This  is  more  compHcated,  but  also  more  inter- 
esting, showing  how  the  character  of  the  gray-green  dress  T\dll 
be  set  off  by  a  lighter  hat  of  Leghorn  straw,  and  further  improved 
by  a  trimming  of  darker  blue-green.  The  sequence  can  be 
made  still  more  subtle  and  attractive  by  choosing  a  straw  whose 
yellow  is  stronger  than  the  green  of  the  dress,  while  a  weaker 


COLOR   HARMONY  89 

chroma  of  blue-green  is  used  in  the  trimming.  This  is  clearly 
expressed  by  the  notation  thus:  Yf ,  Gf ,  BG|^,  ^nd  written  on  the 
score  by  three  dots  and  their  chromas, — 7,  5,  and  3. 

(161)  3.  The  inward  path  which  leads  by  increase  of  gray  to 
the  neutral  centre,  and  on  to  the  opposite  hue  red-purple,  RP^, 
is  full  of  pitfalls  for  the  inexpert.  It  combines  great  change  of 
hue  and  chroma,  with  small  change  of  value. 

(162)  If  any  other  color  point  be  chosen  in  place  of  gray-green, 
the  same  typical  paths  are  just  as  easily  traced,  written  by  the 
notation,  and  recorded  on  the  color  score. 

These  paths  trace  sequences  from  any  point  in  the  color  solid. 

(163)  In  the  construction  of  the  color  solid  we  saw  that  its 
scales  were  made  of  equal  steps  in  hue,  value,  and  chroma,  and 
tested  by  balance  on  the  centre  of  neutral  gray.  Any  step  will 
serve  as  a  point  of  departure  to  trace  regular  sequences  of  the 
three  types.  The  vertical  type  is  a  sequence  of  value  only.  It 
is  somewhat  tame,  lacking  the  change  of  hue  and  chroma,  but 
giving  a  monotonous  harmony  of  regular  values.  The  horizon- 
tal type  traces  a  sequence  of  neighboring  hues,  less  tame  than  the 
vertical  type,  but  monotonous  in  value  and  chroma.  The  in- 
ward type  connects  opposite  hues  by  a  sequence  of  chroma  bal- 
anced on  middle  gray,  and  is  more  stimulating  to  the  eyes. 

(164)  These  paths  have  so  far  been  treated  as  made  up  of  equal 
steps  in  each  direction,  with  the  accompanying  idea  of  equal 
quantities  of  color  at  each  step.  But  by  using  unequal  quantities 
of  color,  the  balance  may  be  preserved  by  compensations  to  the 
intervals  that  separate  the  colors  (see  paragraphs  109,  110). 

Unequal  color  quantities  compensated  by  relations  of  hue,  value,  and 
chroma. 

(165)  Small  bits  of  powerful  color  can  be  used  to  balance  large 


90  COLOR   HARMONY 

fields  of  weak  chroma.  For  instance,  a  spot  of  strong  reddish 
purple  is  balanced  and  enhanced  by  a  field  of  gray-green.  So 
an  amethyst  pin  at  the  neck  of  the  girl's  dress  will  appear  to  ad- 
vantage with  the  gown,  and  also  with  the  Leghorn  straw.  But 
a  large  field  of  strong  color,  such  as  a  cloth  jacket  of  reddish 
purple,  would  be  fatal  to  the  measured  harmony  we  seek. 

(166)  This  use  of  a  small  point  of  strong  chroma,  if  repeated 
at  intervals,  sets  up  a  notion  of  rhythm;  but,  in  order  to  be  rhyth- 
mic, there  must  be  recurrent  emphasis,  "a  succession  of  similar 
units,  combining  unlike  elements."  This  quality  must  not  be 
confused  with  the  unaccented  succession,  seen  in  a  measured  scale 
of  hue,  value,  or  chroma. 

Paper  masks  to  isolate  color  intervals. 

(167)  A  sheet  of  paper  large  enough  to  hide  the  color  sphere 
may  be  perforated  with  three  or  more  openings  in  a  straight  line, 
and  applied  against  the  surface,  so  as  to  isolate  the  steps  of  any  se- 
quence which  we  wish  to  study.  Thus  the  sequence  given  in 
paragraph  160 — ^Y| ,  Gf ,  BG| — may  be  changed  to  bring  it  on  the 
surface  of  the  sphere,  when  it  reads  Yf,  Gf ,  BG|.  A  mask  with 
round  holes,  spaced  so  as  to  uncover  these  three  spots,  relieves 
the  eye  from  the  distraction  of  other  colors.  Keeping  the  centre 
spot  on  green,  the  mask  may  be  moved  so  as  to  study  the  effect 
of  changing  hue  or  value  of  the  other  two  steps  in  the  sequence. 

(168)  The  sequence  is  lightened  by  sliding  the  whole  mask 
upward,  and  darkened  by  dropping  it  lower.  Then  the  result 
of  using  the  same  intervals  in  another  field  is  easily  studied  by 
moving  the  mask  to  another  part  of  the  solid. 

(169)  Change  of  interval  immediately  modifies  the  character 
of  a  color  sequence.  This  is  readily  shown  by  having  an  under- 
mask,  with  a  long,  continuous  slit,  and  an  over-mask  whose  per- 


COLOR   HARMONY  91 

f orations  are  arranged  in  several  rows,  each  row  giving  different 
spaces  between  the  perforations.  In  the  case  of  the  girl's  cloth- 
ing, the  same  sequence  produces  quite  a  different  effect,  if  two 
perforations  of  the  over-mask  are  brought  nearer  to  select  a  lighter 
yellow-green  dress,  while  the  ends  of  the  sequence  remain  un- 
changed. To  move  the  middle  perforation  near  the  other  end, 
selects  a  darker  bluish  green  dress,  on  which  the  trimming  will 
be  less  contrasted,  while  the  hat  appears  brighter  than  before, 
because  of  greater  contrast. 

(170)  The  variations  of  color  sequence  which  can  thus  be 
studied  out  by  simple  masks  are  almost  endless ;  yet  upon  a  meas- 
ured system  the  character  of  each  effect  is  easily  described,  and, 
if  need  be,  preserved  by  a  written  record. 

Invention  of  color  groups. 

(171)  Experiments  with  variable  masks  for  the  selection  of 
color  intervals,  such  as  have  been  described,  soon  stimulate  the 
imagination,  so  that  it  conceives  sequences  through  any  part  of 
the  color  solid.  The  color  image  becomes  a  permanent  mental 
adjunct.  Five  middle  colors,  tempered  with  white  and  black, 
permit  us  to  devise  the  greatest  variety  of  sequences,  some  hght, 
others  dark,  some  combining  small  difference  of  chroma  with 
large  difference  of  hue,  others  uniting  large  intervals  of  chroma 
with  small  intervals  of  hue,  and  so  on  through  a  well-nigh  inex- 
haustible series. 

(172)  As  this  constructive  imagination  gains  power,  the  solid 
and  its  charts  may  be  laid  aside.  We  can  now  think  color  con- 
secutively. Each  color  suggests  its  place  in  the  system,  and  may 
be  taken  as  a  point  of  departure  for  the  invention  of  groups  to 
carry  out  a  desired  relation. 

(173)  This  selective  mental  process  is  helped  by  the  score  do- 


92  COLOR   HARMONY 


scribed  in  the  last  chapter;  and  the  quantity  of  each  color  chosen 
for  the  group  is  easily  indicated  by  a  variable  circle,  drawn  round 
the  various  points  on  the  diagram.  Thus,  in  the  case  of  the  child's 
clothes,  a  large  circle  around  Gf  gives  the  area  of  that  color  as 
compared  with  smaller  circles  around  Yf  and  BGf ,  represent- 
ing: the  area  of  the  straw  and  the  trimming. 

(174)  When  the  plotting  of  color  groups  has  become  instinc- 
tive from  long  practice,  it  opens  a  wide  field  of  color  study.  Take 
as  illustration  the  wings  of  butterflies  or  the  many  varieties  of  pan- 
sies.  These  fascinating  color  schemes  can  be  written  with  indi- 
cations of  area  that  record  their  differences  by  a  simple  diagram. 
In  the  same  way,  rugs,  tapestries,  mosaics, — ^whatever  attracts 
by  its  beauty  and  harmony  of  color, — can  be  recorded  and  studied 
in  measured  terms;  and  the  mental  process  of  estimating  hues, 
values,  chromas,  and  areas  by  established  scales  must  lead  the 
color  sense  to  finer  and  finer  perceptions. 

The  same  process  serves  as  well  to  record  the  most  annoying 
and  inharmonious  color  groups.  When  sufficient  of  these  records 
have  been  obtained,  they  furnish  definite  material  for  a  contrast 
of  the  color  combinations  which  please,  with  those  that  cause  dis- 
gust. Such  a  contrast  should  discover  some  broad  law  of  color 
harmony.  It  will  then  be  in  measured  terms  which  can  be 
clearly  given;  not  a  vague  personal  statement,  conveying  different 
meanings  to  each  one  who  hears  it. 
Constant  exercise  needed  to  train  the  color  sense. 

(175)  Appreciation  of  beautiful  color  grows  by  exercise  and 
discrimination,  just  as  naturally  as  fine  perception  of  music  or 
literature.  Each  is  an  outlet  for  the  expression  of  taste, — a  lan- 
guage which  may  be  used  clumsily  or  with  skill. 

(176)  As  color  perception  becomes  finer,  it  discards  the  more 


COLOR   HARMONY  93 

crude  and  violent  contrasts.  A  child  revels  in  strong  chromas, 
but  the  mark  of  a  colorist  is  ability  to  employ  low  chroma  without 
impoverishing  the  color  effect.  As  a  boy's  shrieks  and  groans 
can  be  tempered  to  musical  utterance,  so  his  debauches  in  violent 
red,  green,  and  purple  must  be  replaced  by  tempered  hues. 

(177)  Raphael,  Titian,  Velasquez,  Corot,  Chavannes,  and 
Whistler  are  masters  in  the  use  of  gray.  Personal  bias  may  lead 
one  colorist  a  Httle  more  toward  warm  colors,  and  another  slightly 
toward  the  cool  field,  in  each  case  attaining  a  sense  of  harmonious 
balance  by  tempered  degrees  of  value  and  chroma.* 

(178)  It  is  not  claimed  that  discipline  in  the  use  of  subtle  colors 
will  make  another  Corot  or  Velasquez,  but  it  will  make  for  com- 
prehension of  their  skill.  It  is  grotesque  to  watch  gaudily  dressed 
persons  going  into  ecstasies  over  the  delicate  coloring  of  a  Botti- 
celH,  when  the  internal  as  well  as  the  external  evidence  is  against 
them. 

(179)  The  colors  which  we  choose,  not  only  in  personal  apparel, 
but  in  our  rooms  and  decorations,  are  mute  witnesses  to  a  stage 
of  color  perception. 

If  that  perception  is  trained  to  finer  distinctions,  the  mind  can 
no  longer  be  content  with  coarse  expression.  It  begins  to  feel 
an  incongruity  between  the  "loud"  color  of  the  wall  paper,  bought 
because  it  was  fashionable,  and  the  quiet  hues  of  the  rug,  which 
was  a  gift  from  some  artistic  friend.  It  sees  that,  although  the 
furniture  is  covered  with  durable  and  costly  materials,  their  color 
"swears"  at  that  of  the  curtains  and  wood-work.     In  short,  the 

*  "Nature's  most  lively  hues  are  bathed  in  lilac  grays.  Spread  all  about  us,  yet  visible 
only  to  the  fine  perception  of  the  colorist,  is  this  gray  quaUty  by  which  he  appeals.  Not 
he  whose  pictures  abound  in  'couleura  voyantes,'  but  he  who  preserves  in  his  work  all 
the  'gris  colores'  is  the  good  colorist." 

Translation  from  J.  F.  Ilafa.elli,  in  Annales  Politiques  &  Litteraires. 


94  COLOE    HARMONY 

room  has  been  jumbled  together  at  various  periods,  without  any 
plan  or  sense  of  color  design. 

(180)  Good  taste  demands  that  a  room  be  furnished,  not  alone 
for  convenience  and  comfort,  but  also  with  an  eye  to  the  beauty 
of  the  various  objects,  so  that,  instead  of  confusing  and  destroy- 
ing the  colors,  each  may  enhance  the  other.  And,  when  this 
sense  of  color  harmony  is  aroused,  it  selects  and  arranges  the  books, 
the  rugs,  the  lamp  shade,  the  souvenirs  of  travel  and  friendship, 
the  wall  paper,  pictures,  and  hangings,  so  that  they  fit  into  a  color 
scheme,  not  only  charming  to  the  eye  at  first  glance,  but  which 
continues  to  please  the  mind  as  it  traces  out  an  intelligent  plan, 
bringing  all  into  general  harmony. 

(181)  Nor  will  this  cease  when  one  room  has  been  put  to  rights. 
Such  a  coloristic  attitude  is  not  satisfied  until  the  vista  into  the 
next  apartment  is  made  attractive.  Or  should  there  be  a  suite 
of  rooms,  it  demands  that,  with  variety  in  each  one,  they  all  be 
brought  into  harmonious  sequence.  Thus  the  study  of  color 
finds  immediate  and  practical  use  in  daily  life.  It  is  a  needed 
discipline  of  color  Adsion,  in  the  sense  that  geometry  is  a  disci- 
pline of  the  mind,  and  it  also  enters  into  the  pleasure  and  re- 
finement of  life  at  every  step.  Skill  or  awkwardness  in  its  use 
exerts  as  positive  an  influence  upon  us  as  do  the  harmonies  and 
discords  of  sound,  and  a  far  more  continuous  one.  It  is  thought 
a  defect  to  be  unmusical.  Should  it  not  be  considered  a  mark 
of  defective  cultivation  to  be  insensitive  to  color  ? 

(182)  In  this  slight  sketch  of  color  education  it  has  been  as- 
sumed that  we  are  to  deal  with  those  who  have  normal  percep- 
tions. But  there  are  some  who  inherit  or  develop  various  degrees 
of  color-blindness ;  and  a  word  in  their  behaK  may  be  opportune. 

(183)  A  case  of  total  color-blindness  is  very  rare,  but  a  few 


COLOR   HARMONY  95 

are  on  record.  When  a  child  shows  deficient  color  perception,* 
a  little  care  may  save  him  much  discomfort,  and  patient  training 
may  correct  it.  If  he  mismatches  some  hues,  confuses  their 
names,  seems  incapable  of  the  finer  distinctions  of  color,  study 
to  find  the  hues  which  he  estimates  well,  and  then  help  him  to 
venture  a  little  into  that  field  where  his  perception  is  at  fault. 
Improvement  is  pretty  sure  to  follow  when  this  is  sympathetically 
done.  One  student,  who  never  outgrew  the  habit  of  giving  a 
purplish  hue  to  all  his  work,  despite  many  expedients  and  the 
use  of  various  lights  and  colored  objects  to  correct  it,  is  the  single 
exception  among  hundreds  whom  it  has  been  my  privilege  to 
watch  as  they  improved  their  first  crude  estimates,  and  gained 
skill  in  expressing  their  sense  of  Nature's  subtle  color. 

(184)  To  sum  up,  the  first  chapter  suggests  a  measured  color 
system  in  place  of  guess-work.  The  next  describes  the  three  color 
qualities,  and  sketches  a  child's  growth  in  color  perception.  The 
third  tells  how  colors  may  be  mingled  in  such  proportions  as  to 
balance.  After  the  impracticability  of  using  spectral  color  has 
been  shown  in  the  fourth  chapter,  the  fifth  proceeds  to  build  a 
practical  color  solid.  The  sixth  provides  for  a  written  record 
of  color,  and  the  last  applies  all  that  has  preceded  to  suggestions 
for  the  study  of  color  harmony. 

(185)  Wide  gaps  appear  in  this  outline.  There  is  much  that 
deserves  fuller  treatment.  But,  if  the  search  for  refined  color 
and  a  clearer  outlook  upon  its  relations  are  stimulated  by  this 
fragmentary  sketch,  some  of  its  faults  may  be  overlooked. 

*  See  Color  Blindness  in  Glossary. 


PABT   n. 

A  COLOR  SYSTEM  AND   COURSE  OF  STUDY  BASED 
ON  THE  COLOR  SOLID  AND   ITS  CHARTS. 

Arranged  for  nine  years  of  school  life. 


GLOSSARY  OF  COLOR  TERMS. 

Taken  from  the  Century  Dictionary. 

INDEX 

(by  paragraphs). 


A   COLOR  SYSTEM  AND   COURSE   OF   STUDY 

BASED  ON  THE  COLOR  SOLID  AND  ITS  CHARTS, 
ADAPTED    TO    NINE    YEARS    OF    SCHOOL     LIFE. 


Grade.     Subject. 


9. 


Hues 
of  color. 


Hues 
of  color. 


Values 
of  color. 


Values 
of  color. 


Chromas 
of  color. 


Chromas 
of  color. 


Colors  Studied. 


Red. 

Yellow. 
Green. 
Blue. 
Purple. 


R. 
Y. 
G. 
B. 
P. 


Yellow-red. 

Green-yellow. 

Blue-green. 

Purple-blue. 

Red-purple. 


YR. 
GY. 
BG. 
PB. 
RP. 


Light,  middle,  and  dark 


5  values  of  YR 
GY 

U  ..  M     B(J 

..      ..  p3 
RP 


R. 
Y. 
G. 
B. 
P. 


3  chromas  of  R-. 

«>  a  »t  Y^ 

•'  G< 
u  P^. 


3  chromas  of  YR^. 
GY^. 


BG^. 
PB^. 
RP^. 
R^  and  R^. 

G^    "    G< 
B^    "     B^. 

pi     "       ps. 


Illustration. 


Sought  in 
Nature 
and  Art. 


Sought  in 

Nature 

and  Art. 


Sought  in 
Nature 
and  Art. 


Sought  in 
Nature 
and  Art. 


Sought  in 
Nature 
and  Art. 


Sought  in 
Nature 
and  Art. 


Applica- 
tion. 


Borders 

and 
Rosettes. 


Borders 

and 
Rosettes. 


Design. 


Design. 


Design. 


Design. 


Materials 


To  OBSERVE 

imitate  color  by  hue,  value,  and  chroma 

&  WRITE 


Quantity  of  color. 

Pairs  of  equal  area  and  unequal  area 
Balanced  by  hue,  value,  and  chroma. 


Quantity  of  color. 
Triads  of  equal  area  and  unequal  area 
Balanced  by  hue,value,  and  chroma. 


Colored 
crayons 

and 
papers. 


Colored 
crayons 

and 
papers. 


Color 
sphere. 


Charts. 


Charts. 


Color 
Tree. 


Paints. 


Paints. 


Paints. 


Copyright,  1904,  by  A.  H.  Munsell. 


101 

STUDY  OF  SINGLE  HUES  AND  THEIR  SEQUENCE.    Two  Years. 

FIRST  GRADE  LESSONS. 

1.  Talk  about  familiar  objects,  to  bring  out  color  names,  as  toys,  flowers, 

2.  clothing,  birds,  insects,  etc. 

3.  Show  soap  bubbles  and  prismatic  spectrum. 

4.  Teach  term  hue.     Hues  of  flowers,  spectrum,  plumage  of  birds,  etc. 

5.  Show  MIDDLE  *  RED.  Find  other  reds. 

6.  "  YELLOW.  "  yellows,  and  compare  with  reds. 

7.  "  GREEN.  '*  greens,  "  "     and  yellows. 

8.  "  BLUE.  "  blues,  "  preceding  hues. 

9.  "  PURPLE.  "  purples,  " 

10-15.  Review  five  middle  hues,*  match  with  colored  papers,  and  place  in  circle. 
16-20.  Show  COLOR  SPHERE.     Find  sequence  of  five  middle  hues.     Memorize  order. 

21.  Middle  red  imitated  with  crayon,  named  and  written  by  initial  R. 

22.  "       yellow      " 


23.  "       green 

24.  ••       blue 

25.  "       purple      " 
26-30.  Review,  using  middle  hues  *  in  borders  and  rosettes  for  design. 


Y. 
G. 
B. 
P. 


Aim. — ^To  recognize  sequence  of  five  middle  hues.  To  name,  match,  imi- 
tate, write,  and  arrange  them. 

SECOND  GRADE  LESSONS. 

1-3.       Review  sequence  of  five  middle  hues.* 

4.  Show  a  hue  intermediate  between  red  and  yellow.     Find  it  in  objects. 

5.  Compare  with  red  and  yellow. 

6.  Recognize  and  name  yellow-red.     Match,  imitate,  and  write  YR. 

7-8.       Show  green-yellow  between  green  and  yellow.     Treat  as  above,  and  write  GY. 
9-10.         "     BLUE-GREEN  "         blue  and  green.  "  "  "       BG. 

11-12.       "     PURPLE-BLUE  *'         purple  and  blue.  "  "  "       PB. 

13-14.       "     RED-PURPLE  "         red  and  purple.  "  "  "       RP. 

15-20.  Make  circle  of  ten  hues.     Place  Intermediates,  and  memorize  order  so  as  to  repeat 

forward  or  backward.     Match,  imitate,  and  write  by  initials. 
21-25.  Find  sequence  of  ten  hues  on  color  sphere.     Compare  with  hues  of  natural  objects. 
26-30.  Review,  using  any  two  hues  in  sequence  for  borders  and  rosettes. 

Aim. — ^To  recognize  sequence  of  ten  hues,  made  up  of  five  middle  *  hues 
and  the  five  intermediates.  To  name,  match,  write,  imitate,  and 
arrange  them. 

*  The  term  middle,  as  used  in  this  course  of  color  study,  is  understood  to  mean  only 
the  five  principal  hues  which  stand  midway  in  the  scales  of  value  and  chroma.  Strictly 
speaking,  their  five  intermediates  are  also  midway  of  the  scales;  but  they  are  obtained  by 
mixture  of  the  five  principal  hues,  as  shown  in  their  names,  and  are  of  secondary  impor- 
tance. 


102 

STUDY  OF  SINGLE  VALUES  AND  THEIR  SEQUENCE.    Two  Years. 

THIRD  GRADE  LESSONS. 

1.  Review  sequence  of  ten  hues. 

2.  Recognize,  name,  match,  imitate,  write,  and  find  them  on  tlie 

3.  COLOR  SPHERE.     Also  in  objects. 

4.  Teach  use  of  term  value.     Color  value  recognized  apart  from  color  hue. 

5.  Find  values  of  red,  lighter  and  darker  than  the 

middle  value  already  familiar. 

7.  Thbeb  values  of  red.     Find  on   sphere.     Name   as   light,   middle,  and  dark 

values  of  red. 

8.  "  Imitate  with  crayons,  and  write  them  as  3,  5,  and  7. 

9.  "  YELLOW.      Compare  with  above. 

10.  Recognize,  name,  match,  and  imitate  with  crayons. 

11.  '•  GBEEN.        Compare,  and  treat  as  above. 

12.  Find  on  sphere  and  in  objects. 

13.  "  BLUE. 
14. 

15.  "  PURPLE.  "  " 

16. 

17-20.  Review,  combining  two  values  and  a  single  hue  for  design.* 

Aim. — To  recognize  a  sequence  combining  three  values  and  five  middle 
hues.     To  name,  match,  imitate,  and  arrange  them. 

FOURTH  GRADE  LESSONS. 

1.  Review  sequence  of  thr%e  values  in  each  of  the  five  middle  hues. 

2.  To  recognize,  name,  match,  imitate,  and 

3.  find  them  on  sphere  and  in  objects. 

4.  Show  FIVE  VALUES  of  BED.     Find  them   on   large   color   sphere.     Number   them 

5.  1,  3,  5,  7,  9.     Match,  imitate,  and  write. 

6.  "  BLUE-GREEN,  "  "  " 

7.  "  PURPLE-BLUE  Compared  with  Yellow. 

8.  "  RED-PURPLE  "  Green. 

9.  "  tellow-red  "  Blue. 

10.  "  GREEN-TELLOW      "  Purple. 


Treat  as  above 
y  and 

review. 


Aim. — ^To  recognize  sequences  combining  five  values  in  each  of  ten  hues. 
To  name,  match,  imitate,  write,  and  arrange  them. 

♦These  ten  lessons  inj;his  and  succeeding  grades  are  devoted  to  color  perception  only. 
Their  application  to  design  is  a  part  of  the  general  course  in  drawing,  and  will  be  so  consid- 
ered in  the  succeeding  grades.  Note  that,  although  thus  far  nothing  has  been  said  about 
complementary  hues,  the  child  has  been  led  to  associate  them  in  opposite  pairs  by  the  color 
sphere.     (See  Chapter  III.,  p.  76.) 


103 

STUDY  OF  SINGLE  CHROMAS  AND  THEIR  SEQUENCES.    T\w  Years. 

FIFTH  GRADE  LESSONS. 

1.  Review  sequences  of  hue  and  value.     Find  them  on  the  color  sphere.    Name,  match, 

imitate,  write,  and  arrange  them  by  hue  and  value. 

2.  Teach  use  of  term  chroma.     Compare  three  chromas  with  three  values  of  red. 

Name  them  weak,  middle,  and  strong  chromas. 
Find  in  nature  and  art. 

3.  Three  chromas  of  red.     Compare  with  three  of  blue-green. 

4.  Show  COLOR  TREE.     Suggest  unequal  chroma  of  hues. 

5.  "  TELLOW.  Compare  with  three  chromas  of  purple-blue. 

6.  "  GREEN.  "  **  red-purple. 

7.  "  BLUE.  "  "  yeUow-red. 

8.  "  PURPLE.  "  "  green-yellow. 

9.  Arrange  five  middle  hues  in  circle,  described  as  on  the  surface  of  the 

Color  Sphere  (middle  chroma),  with  weaker  chromas  inside,  and 
stronger  chromas  outside,  the  sphere. 
10.  Review, — to  find  these  sequences  of  chroma  in  nature  and  art. 

Aim. — ^To  recognize  sequences  combining  three  chromas,  middle  value, 
and  ten  hues.    To  name,  match,  imitate,  and  arrange  them. 

SIXTH  GRADE  LESSONS. 

1.  Review  sequences  combining  three  chromas,  five  hues,  and  middle  value. 

Find  on  Color  Tree,  name,  match,  imitate,  and  arrange  them. 

2.  Three  chromas  of  lighter  and  darker  red.     Compare  with  middle  red. 

3.  Write        "  "  "  "        as  a  fraction,  chroma   under  value, 

using  3,  5,  and  7.     Thus  R^. 

4.  Find  '*  "  red,  and  compare  with  darker  blue-green. 
6.  Three  chromas  of  lighter  and  darker  yellow,  with  purple-blue. 

6.  "  "  "  "  GREEN,       "     red-purple. 

7.  "  "  "  "  blue,         "     yellow-red. 

8.  "  "  "  "  PURPLE,     "     green-yellow. 

9.  Colors  in  nature  and  art,  defined  by  hue,  value,  and  chroma.     Named,  matched,  imi- 

tated, written,  and  arranged  by  Color  Sphere  and  Tree. 
10.  Review, — to  find  sequences  combining  three  chromas,  five  values,  and  ten  hues. 

Aim. — ^To  recognize  sequences  of  chroma,  as  separate  from  sequences  of 
hue  or  sequences  of  value.  To  name,  match,  write,  imitate,  and 
arrange  colors  in  terms  of  their  hue,  value,  and  chroma. 


104 

COLOR  EXPRESSION  IN  TERMS  OF  THE  HUES,  VALUES, 

AND  CHROMAS. 

SEVENTH   GRADE  LESSONS. 

1.  Review  sequences  of  hue  (initial),  value  (upper  numeral),  &  chroma  Qower  numeral). 
2. 

3.  Exercises  in  expressing  colors  of  natural  objects  by  the  notation,  and 

4.  tracing  their  relation  by  the  spherical  solid. 

5.  Reds  in  Nature  and  Art,  imitated,  written,  and  traced 

6.  Yellows 

7.  Greens 

8.  Blues 

9.  Purples 
10.  One  color  pair  selected,  defined,  and  arranged  for  design.     (See  note  4th  Grade.) 

Aim. — ^To  define  any  color  by  its  hue,  value,  and  chroma.    To  imitate 
with  pigments  and  write  it. 

EIGHTH  GRADE  LESSONS. 

1.  Review  sequences,  and  select  colors  which  balance.     Illustrate  the  term. 

2.  Balance  of  light  and  dark, — weak  and  strong, — hot  and  cold  colors. 

3.  Red         and  blue-green  balanced  in  hue,  value,  and  chroma,  with  equal  areas. 

4.  Yellow    "    purple-blue  "  " 

5.  Green       "     red-purple  "  " 

6.  Blue         "     yeUow-red 

7.  Purple     "    green-yellow  "  " 

8.  Unequal  areas  of  the  above  pairs,  balanced  by  compensating  qualities  of  hue, 

9.  value,  and  chroma.     Examples  from  nature  and  art. 
10.  One  color  pair  of  unequal  areas  selected,  defined,  and  used  in  design. 

Aim. — ^To  BALANCE  coloFs  by  area,  hue,  value,  and  chroma.    To  imitate 
with  pigments  and  write  the  balance  by  the  notation. 

NINTH  GRADE  LESSONS, 

1.  Review  balance  of  color  pairs,  by  area,  hue,  value,  and  chroma. 

2.  To  recognize,  name,  imitate,  write,  and  record  them. 

3.  Selection  of  two  colors  to  balance  a  given  red. 

•  "  "  YELLOW. 

•  "  "  GREEN. 

•  "  "  BLUE. 

•  "  "  PURPLE. 

selected,  balanced,  written,  and  used  in  design. 

Aim. — ^To  recognize  triple  balance  of  color,  and  express  it  in  terms  of  area, 
hue,  value,  and  chroma.    Also  to  use  it  in  design. 


4. 

«                      < 

5. 

<(                      ( 

6. 

«                      f 

7. 

«                      « 

8- 

10. 

Triad  of  color, 

GLOSSARY   OF   COLOR  TERMS 

TAKEN  FROM 
THE 

CENTURY  DICTIONARY. 


GLOSSARY 

The  color  definitions  here  employed  are  taken  from  the  Century 
Dictionary.  Special  attention  is  called  to  the  cross  references 
which  serve  to  differentiate  HUE,  VALUE,  and  CHROMA. 

After  Image. — An  image  perceived  after  withdrawing  the  eye 
from  a  brilliantly  illuminated  object.  Such  images  are 
called  positive  when  their  colors  are  the  same  as  that  of 
the  object,  and  negative  when  they  are  its  complementary 
colors. 

Blue. — Of  the  color  of  the  clear  sky;  of  the  color  of  the  spectrum 
between  wave  lengths  .505  and  .415  micron,  and  more  es- 
pecially .487  and  .460;  or  of  such  light  mixed  with  white; 
azure,  cerulean. 

Black. — Possessing  in  the  highest  degree  the  property  of  absorb- 
ing light;  reflecting  and  transmitting  little  or  no  light;  of  the 
color  of  soot  or  coal ;  of  the  darkest  possible  hue ;  sable.  Op- 
tically, wholly  destitute  of  color,  or  absolutely  dark,  whether 
from  the  absence  or  the  total  absorption  of  light.  Opposed 
to  white. 

Brown. — A  dark  color,  inclined  to  red  or  yellow,  obtained  by 
mixing  red,  black,  and  yellow. 

CHROMA. — The  degree  of  departure  of  a  color  sensation  from 
that  of  white  or  gray ;  the  intensity  of  distinctive  hue ;  color 
intensity. 

Chromatic. — ^Relating  to  or  of  the  nature  of  color. 

Cobalt  Blue. — A  pure  blue  tending  toward  cyan  blue  and  of 

high  luminosity;    also  called  Hungary  blue,  Lethner's  blue, 

and  Paris  blue. 


108 

Color. — Objectively,  that  quality  of  a  thing  or  appearance  which 
is  perceived  by  the  eye  alone,  independently  of  the  form  of 
the  thing;  subjectively,  a  sensation  peculiar  to  the  organ  of 
vision,  and  arising  from  the  optic  nerve. 

Color  Blindness. — Incapacity  for  perceiving  colors,  independent 
of  the  capacity  for  distinguishing  light  and  shade.  The  most 
common  form  is  inability  to  perceive  red  as  a  distinct  color, 
red  objects  being  confounded  with  gray  or  green;  and  next 
in  frequency  is  the  inability  to  perceive  green. 

Color  Constants. — The  numbers  which  measure  the  quantities, 
as  well  as  any  other  system  of  three  numbers  for  defining 
colors,  are  called  constants  of  color. 

Color  Variables. — Colors  vary  in  chroma,  or  freedom  from  ad- 
mixture of  white  light;  in  brightness,  or  luminosity;  and  in 
HUE,  which  roughly  corresponds  to  the  mean  wave  length  of 
the  light  emitted. 

Colors,  Complementary. — Those  pairs  of  color  which  when 
mixed  produce  white  or  gray  light,  such  as  red  and  green- 
blue,  yellow  and  indigo-blue,  green-yellow  and  violet. 

Colors,  Primary. — The  red,  green,  and  violet  light  of  the  spec- 
trum, from  the  mixture  of  which  all  other  colors  can  be  pro- 
duced.    Also  called  fundamental  colors. 

Dyestuffs. — In  commerce,  any  dyewood,  lichen,  or  dyecake  used 
in  dyeing  and  staining. 

Electric  Light. — Light  produced  by  electricity  and  of  two 
general  kinds,  the  arc  light  and  the  incandescent  light.  In 
the  first  the  voltaic  arc  is  employed.  In  the  second  a  resisting 
conductor  is  rendered  incandescent  by  the  current. 

Enamel. — In  the  fine  arts  a  vitreous  substance  or  glass,  opaque 
or  transparent,  and  variously  colored,  applied  as  a  coating 
on  a  surface  of  metal  or  of  porcelain. 


109 

Grating,  Diffraction. — ^A  series  of  fine  parallel  lines  on 
a  surface  of  glass,  or  polished  metal,  ruled  very  close  to- 
gether, at  the  rate  of  10,000  to  20,000  or  even  40,000  to 
the  inch;  distinctively  called  a  diffraction  or  a  diffraction 
grating,  much  used  in  spectroscopic  work. 

Gray. — A  color  having  little  or  no  distinctive  hue  (chroma) 
and  only  moderate  luminosity. 

Green. — The  color  of  ordinary  foliage;  the  color  seen  in  the 
solar  spectrum  between  wave  lengths  0.511  and  0.543  micron. 

Emerald  Green. — ^A  highly  chromatic  and  extraordinarily  lu- 
minous green  of  the  color  of  the  spectrum  at  wave  length 
0.524  micron.  It  recalls  the  emerald  by  its  brilliancy,  but 
not  by  its  tint;  applied  generally  to  the  aceto-arsenate  of 
copper.     Usually  known  as  Paris  green. 

High  Color. — ^A  hue  which  excites  intensely  chromatic  color 
sensations. 

HUE. — Specifically  and  technically,  distinctive  quality  of  color- 
ing in  an  object  or  on  a  surface ;  the  respect  in  which  red, 
yellow,  green,  blue,  etc.,  differ  one  from  another;  that  in 
which  colors  of  equal  luminosity  and  CHROMA  may  differ. 

Indigo. — The  violet-blue  color  of  the  spectrum,  extending,  ac- 
cording to  Helmholtz,  from  G  two-thirds  of  the  way  to  F  in 
the  prismatic  spectrum.  The  name  was  introduced  by  New- 
ton, but  has  lately  been  discarded  by  the  best  writers. 

Light. — ^Adjective  applied  to  colors  highly  luminous  and  more  or 
less  deficient  in  chroma. 

Luminosity. — Specifically,  the  intensity  of  light  in  a  color,  meas- 
ured photometrically;  that  is  to  say,  a  standard  light  has  its 
intensity,  or  vis  viva,  altered,  until  it  produces  the  impression 
of  being  equally  bright  with  the  color  whose  light  is  to  be 


110 

determined;  and  the  measure  of  the  vis  viva  of  the  altered 
light,  relatively  to  its  standard  intensity,  is  then  taken  as  the 
luminosity  of  the  color  in  question. 

Maxwell  Color  Discs. — Discs  having  each  a  single  color,  and 
slit  radially  so  that  one  may  be  made  to  lap  over  another  to 
any  desired  extent.  By  rotating  these  on  a  spindle,  the  effect  of 
combining  certain  colors  in  varying  proportions  can  be  studied. 

Micron. — The  millionth  part  of  a  metre,  or  -^'s^wo  ^^  ^^  English 
inch.  The  term  has  been  formally  adopted  by  the  Inter- 
national Commission  of  Weights  and  Measures,  representing 
the  civilized  nations  of  the  v^orld,  and  is  adopted  by  all  me- 
trologists. 

Orange. — A  reddish  yellow  color,  of  which  the  orange  is  the  type. 

Vision,  Persistence  of. — The  continuance  of  a  visual  impression 
upon  the  retina  of  the  eye  after  the  exciting  cause  is  removed. 
The  length  of  time  varies  with  the  intensity  of  the  light  and 
the  excitability  of  the  retina,  and  ordinarily  is  brief,  though  the 
duration  may  be  for  hours,  or  even  days.  The  after  image 
may  be  either  positive  or  negative,  the  latter  when  the  bright 
part  appears  dark  and  the  colored  parts  in  their  corresponding 
contrast  colors.  It  is  because  of  this  persistence  that,  for 
example,  a  firebrand  moved  very  rapidly  appears  as  a  band 
or  circle  of  light. 

Photometer. — An  instrument  used  to  measure  the  intensity  of 
light.  Specifically,  to  compare  the  relative  intensities  of  the 
light  emitted  from  various  sources. 

Pigment. — Any  substance  that  is  or  can  be  used  by  painters  to 
impart  color  to  bodies. 

Pink. — A  red  color  of  low  chroma,  but  high  luminosity,  inclining 
toward  purple. 


Ill 

Primary  Colors. — ^See  Colors,  primary. 

Pure  Color.— A  color  produced  by  homogeneous  light.  Any 
very  brilliant  or  decided  color. 

Purple. — A  color  formed  by  the  mixture  of  blue  and  red,  includ- 
ing the  violet  of  the  spectrum  above  wave  length  0.417,  which 
is  nearly  a  violet  blue,  and  extending  to,  but  not  including, 
crimson. 

Rainbow. — A  bow  or  an  arc  of  a  circle,  consisting  of  the  pris- 
matic colors,  formed  by  the  refraction  and  the  reflection  of 
rays  of  light  from  drops  of  rain  or  vapor,  appearing  in  the 
part  of  the  heavens  opposite  to  the  sun. 

Red. — A  color  more  or  less  resembling  that  of  blood,  or  the  lower 
end  of  the  spectrum.  Red  is  one  of  the  most  general  color 
names,  and  embraces  colors  ranging  in  hue  from  aniline  to 
scarlet  iodide  of  mercury  and  red  lead.  A  red  yellower  than 
vermilion  is  called  scarlet.  One  much  more  crimson  is  called 
crimson  red.  A  very  dark  red,  if  pure  or  crimson,  is  called 
maroon;  if  brownish,  chestnut  or  chocolate.  A  pale  red — 
that  is,  one  of  low  chroma  and  high  luminosity — ^is  called 
a  pink,  ranging  from  rose  pink  or  pale  crimson  to  salmon 
pink  or  pale  scarlet. 

Venetian  Red. — An  important  pigment  used  by  artists,  some- 
what darker  than  brick  red  in  color,  and  very  permanent. 

Retina. — ^The  innermost  and  chiefly  nervous  coat  of  the  pos- 
terior part  of  the  eyeball. 

Saturation,  of  Colors. — ^In  optics  the  degree  of  admixture 
with  white,  the  saturation  diminishing  as  the  amount  of 
white  is  increased.  In  other  words,  the  highest  degree  of 
saturation  belongs  to  a  given  color  when  in  the  state  of  great- 
est purity. 


in 

Scale. — A  graded  system,  by  reference  to  which  the  degree, 
intensity,  or  quality  of  a  sense  perception  may  be  estimated. 

Shade. — ^Degree  or  gradation  of  defective  luminosity  in  a  color, 
often  used  vaguely  from  the  fact  that  paleness,  or  high 
luminosity,  combined  with  defective  chroma,  is  con- 
founded with  high  luminosity  by  itself.  See  Color,  Hue, 
and  Tint. 

Spectrum. — ^In  physics  the  continuous  band  of  light  showing  the 
successive  prismatic  colors,  or  the  isolated  lines  or  bands  of 
color,  observed  when  the  radiation  from  such  a  source  as  the 
sun  or  an  ignited  vapor  in  a  gas  flame  is  viewed  after  having 
been  passed  through  a  prism  (prismatic  spectrum)  or  reflected 
from  a  diffraction  grating  (diffraction  or  interference  spectrum). 
See  Rainbow. 

Tint. — A  variety  of  color;  especially  and  properly,  a  luminous 
variety  of  low  chroma;  also,  abstractly,  the  respect  in  which 
a  color  may  be  raised  by  more  or  less  admixture  of  white, 
which  at  once  increases  the  luminosity  and  diminishes  the 

CHROMA. 

Tone. — A  sound  having  definiteness  and  continuity  enough  so 
that  its  pitch,  force,  and  quality  may  be  readily  estimated  by 
the  ear.  Musical  sound  opposed  to  noise.  The  prevailing 
effect  of  a  color. 

Ultramarine. — A  beautiful  natural  blue  pigment,  obtained  from 
the  mineral  lapis-lazuli. 

VALUE.— In  painting  and  the  allied  arts,  relation  of  one  object, 
part,  or  atmospheric  plane  of  a  picture  to  the  others,  with  ref- 
erence to  light  and  shade,  the  idea  of  HUE  being  abstracted. 

Vermilion. — The  red  sulphate  of  mercury. 

Violet. — ^A  general  class  of  colors,  of  which  the  violet  flower  is  a 


113 

highly  chromatic  example.  The  sensation  is  produced  by  a 
pure  blue  whose  chroma  has  been  diminished  while  its 
LUMINOSITY  has  been  increased.  Thus  blue  and  violet  are 
the  same  color,  though  the  sensations  are  different.  A  mere 
increase  of  illumination  may  cause  a  violet  blue  to  appear 
violet,  with  a  diminution  of  apparent  chroma.  This  color, 
called  violet  or  blue  according  to  the  quality  of  the  sensation 
it  excites,  is  one  of  the  three  fundamental  colors  of  Young's 
theory.     A  deep  blue  tinged  with  red. 

ViRiDiAN. — Same  as  Veronese  green. 

White. — ^A  color  transmitting,  and  so  reflecting  to  the  eye,  all 
the  rays  of  the  spectrum,  combined  in  the  same  proportion 
as  in  the  impinging  light. 

Yellow. — The  color  of  gold  and  of  light,  of  wave  length  0.581 
micron.  The  name  is  restricted  to  highly  chromatic  and 
luminous  colors.  When  reduced  in  chroma,  it  becomes  buff; 
when  reduced  in  luminosity,  a  cool  brown.     See  Brown. 

Veronese  Green. — ^A  pigment  consisting  of  hydrated  chromium 
sesquioxide.  It  is  a  clear  bluish  green  of  great  permanency. 
Also  called  Viridian. 


INDEX  BY  PARAGRAPHS. 


Balance  of  color,  23,  47,  67,  75-77,  81-86, 
106,  108,   111,  114,  132,  136,  142,  147, 
Appendix  III. 
Black,  12,  16,  22,  31,  41,  54,  55,  65,  91,  119. 
Blue,  9,  12,  16,  34,  104,  146,  147. 
Brewster's  theory.  Appendix  III. 
Charts  of  the  color  sphere,  14,  17,  126,  127, 

135,  136,  140. 
Chevreul,  Appendix  III.,  V. 
Chroma,  3,  4,  8,  11,  14,  21-24,  28,  39,  40, 
42,  45,  64,  76,  78,  82,  88,  94,  95,  105, 
121    132 
Scale  of,  12,  19,  25,  31-35,  42,  133. 
Strongest,  32,  34,  42. 
Chromatic  tuning  fork,  117,  118,  119-127. 
Circvdt,  inclined,  16,  l7,  97. 
Color,  apparatus,  3,  8,  14,  132. 
Atlas,  129. 

Balance,  23,  47,  67,  75-77,  81-86  (triple), 
106,  108,  111,  114,   132,  136,  142,  147. 
BUndness,  182,  183. 
Charts,  14,  17,  126,  127,  135,  136,  140. 
Circuit,  54,  58,  59. 
Complementary,  76,  77. 
Color,  dimensions  of,  3,  8,  9,  13,  25,  53, 

94,  116. 
Curves,  94. 

Discs,    Maxwell's,   76,   93,    106-112,    113. 
'    Harmony,  47,  77,  86,   145-148,   151-174, 
180. 
Hand  as  a  holder  of,  54-58. 
Key  of,  6,  151,  152. 
Language,  poverty  of,  5,  175. 
Lists,  131. 
Measured,  3,  14,  32. 
Meridians,  136,  137. 
Middle,  28,  29,  40-42,  113. 
Misnomers,  Appendix  I. 
Mixture,  56-72. 

Names,  1,  2,  14,  19,  25,  90,  91,  131. 
Notation,  36,  37,  40-42,  47,   67,   72,  86, 

101,  133. 
Orange,  9-11,  89,  123. 
-    ParaUels,  12,  119. 

Paths,  157,  158,  160-164. 

Perception,  27,  29,  39,  179. 

Principal   (5),  4,   16,  21,   26,   31,   34,   40, 

54,  56, '57. 
Principal    (5)    and  intermediates    (5),   31, 

60,  68,  112,  134. 
Purity,  8,  19,  23,  89,  98,  99. 
Records,  145. 

Relations,  14,  24,  36,  37,  153. 
Rhythm,  166. 
Scale,  3,  7,  24,  30,  55,  120,  140,  Appendix 

II. 
Score,  133-139,  142,  173. 
Sensations,  3,  4,  15,  19,  21,  87. 
Sequences,  47,  78,  79,  120,  156,  169-171, 

181. 
Sir  Isaac  Newton's,  89. 
Schemes,  Appendix  V. 
SoUd,  14,  19,  102,  126,  129,  140,  153. 
Spectral,  16,  88,  94,  129. 
Sphere,  12-17,  24,  25,  31.  43,  55,  72,  91, 

101,  102,  111,  122,  132. 
Standard,  4,  26,  35. 


Color,  system,  3,  8,  28,  123,  130. 

Need  of,  46,  148. 
Tree,  14,  30-34,  43,  94,  95,  124. 
Waves,  21,  23,  136. 
Tones,  134. 
Children's  color  studies.  Appendix  IV. 
Colorist,  84,  121,  177. 
Coloristic  art,  7,  38,  45,  177. 
Combined  scales,  12,  14,  36,  37,  47. 
Complements,  76,  77. 
Course  of  color  study,  48-50. 
Daylight  photometer,  22,  103,  119. 
Enamels,  28,  29,  101,  117. 
Fading,  8,  23. 

False  color  balance.  Appendix  III. 
Flat  diagrams,  14. 

Fundamental  sensations,  28,  Appendix  III. 
Green,  2,  32,  104,  136,  137,  140,  147. 
Hue,  3,  4,  8,  9-11,  14,  18,  21-26,  34,  39,  40, 

43,  54,  59,  76,  82,  89,  105. 
Scale  of,  12,  19,  25,  31,  35,  120,  133. 
Ideal  color  system,  100. 
Lambert's  pyramid,  note  to  31. 
Luminist,  121. 
Masks,  47,  167-171. 
Maxwell  discs,  93,  107,  113. 
Measurement  of  colors,  3,  8,  14,  116,  Appen- 
dix IV. 
Middle  gray,  61,  65,  72. 
Middle  hues,  10,  28,  65. 
Mixture  of  hues,  56-72. 
Mxisical  terms  used  for  colors,   6,  46,  148- 

150. 
Neutral  axis,  31,  34,  61,  65,  121. 
Neutral  gray,  11,  23,  25,  62,  64,  65,  72,  114, 

102. 
Notation  diagram,  140. 
Orange,  9-11,  123. 
Personal  bias,  144,  174. 
Pigments,  14,  27-29,  101-104,  125,  129. 
Photometer,  65. 
Primary  sensations,  89. 
Prismatic  color  sphere,  98. 
Purple,  90-99. 
Rainbow,  15,  17. 
Red,  middle,  1,  32,  41,  60,  66,  72,  104,  110, 

122,  147,  148. 
Retina,  21. 

Rood,  modern  chromatics.  Appendix  I. 
Runge,  note  to  31,  Appendix  V. 
Shades  and  tints,  22. 
Spectrum,  solar,   15-18,  27,  28,  87,  88,  92, 

95,  96. 
Tone,  6. 
Value,  3,  8-11,   14,  21-24,  28,  34,  39,  40- 

43,  54,  76,  78,  82,  94,  105,  120,  132. 
Scale  of,  12,  19,  25,  31,  34,  35,  102,  120, 

133. 
Vermilion,  42,  Appendix  III. 
Vertical  (neutral)  axis,  12,  25,  31,  34,  65,  68. 
Violet,  90. 
Warm  and  cold  colors,  72,  123,  note  to  136, 

137,  138. 
Wave  lengths,  21,  22,  23,  89. 
White,  12,  16,  17,  22,  31,  41,  54,  55,  65,  87, 

91,  92,  99,  119. 
Yellow,  1,  32,  54,  104,  136. 


Chart   50 

MIDDLE    COLOR    SCALES 

Copyright,   1911,   by   A.   H.   Munsell 


PLATE  V 


Chart  SO 

DARK    COLOR    SCALES 


Illustrative  Material  for  the  Munsell 

Color  System 

Color  Atlas 

1[The  Atlas  is  composed  of  charts  whose  measured  scales  of 
hue,  value,  and  chroma  are  made  in  solid  pigment  colors, 
tested  and  chosen  for  permanence.  The  scales  are  stand- 
ardized by  five  basic  colors  preserved  in  vitreous  enamel  and 
recorded  in  terms  of  wave-length  and  degree  of  white  fight. 

jfThe  charts  bear  appropriate  symbols  on  each  step  of  their 
measured  scales,  so  that  any  color  or  group  of  colors  may  be 
recorded  and  reproduced  at  wiU.  Such  records  are  valuable, 
not  only  in  the  study  of  color  harmony,  but  also  as  a  neces- 
sary means  of  reference  in  scientific  and  industrial  lines,  and 
are  used  in  many  schools,  colleges,  and  laboratories.  (See 
appendix  to  Chapter  11.) 

Model  of  The  Color  Sphere 

^This  rotating  sphere  demonstrates  the  balance  of  color.  It 
gives  the  child  not  only  a  clear  mental  grasp  of  measured 
relations,  but  also  prepares  the  way  for  noting  and  preserv- 
ing a  record  of  such  combinations  as  give  harmony  or 
discord. 

Model  of  The  Color  Tree 

IfThis  tangible  image  of  color  relations  worked  out  from  the 
scales  of  the  Atlas  is  a  great  aid  to  color  study,  serving  to 
locate  and  name  a  color,  as  the  school  globe  locates  and 
names  a  place.  Those  to  whom  color  has  remained  some- 
what of  a  mystery  may  gain  from  this  model  a  clear  under- 
standing of  color  qualities  and  quantities. 

[over] 


The  Munsell  Photometer 

If  A  portable  and  convenient  form  of  daylight  instrument  for 
the  measm-ement  of  color  Ught,  whether  radiant,  reflected, 
or  transmitted,  and  cahbrated  to  a  complete  range  of  values 
from  white  to  black,  illustrating  the  Weber-Fechner  law  of 
sensation.  It  is  described  on  page  39  of  this  book  and  in 
the  New  Century  Dictionary  under  photometer  (dayhght). 

TIThis  suppHes  a  Scientific  Basis  for  the  system  of  color  here 
outhned,  and  serves  for  both  physical  and  psychological 
tests  of  vision;  also  for  estabhshing  the  illumination  value 
at  any  point  in  a  room.  It  is  in  use  in  many  laboratories, 
as  those  of  Clark,  Columbia,  Harvard,  the  University  of 
Washington,  the  Treasury  Department,  the  Massachusetts 
Institute  of  Technology,  and  private  estabhshments. 


1[Materials  and  supplies  based  on  the  Munsell  Color  System,  in- 
cluding oil  colors,  water  colors,  crayons,  colored  papers, 
balls,  cards,  etc.,  may  be  obtained  from 

MUNSELL  COLOR  COMPANY 
220  West  42d  Street 
New  York 


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